site.btaThe National Gallery Presents Francisco Goya: Dreams of a Keen Mind

The Spaniard FRANCISCO GOYA (1746–1828) was one of the most prominent and influential creative figures in world culture. He produced over 1,000 paintings, as well as the graphic series titled Los Caprichos, Los Desastres de la Guerra, Tauromaquia, and Los Disparates.

His stylistic and philosophical spectrum had a strong influence on the subsequent dynamic development of art, defining him as the last of the Old Masters and one of the earliest of Modernism. His extensive output—paintings, graphics and drawings—served as a leading aesthetic principle for many artistic trends of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Impressionism, Expressionism and Surrealism.

The twenty-one prints from the National Gallery collection follow Goya’s development from his earliest etchings, influenced by Diego Velázquez’s style, to his peak achievements as a social interpreter, remarkable for his sharpness, and a chronicler of dour events and complex human characters. The high artistic level of his four graphic series has left a deep imprint on the history of art.

The National Gallery houses seven works from Los Caprichos (The Caprices) series, 1799. Satirising the institutional pillars of power, the church, the Inquisition, the parasitism of the feudal nobility, and the decay of the moral values of social classes, was the reason for the series to be banned from exhibiting.

Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) series, which Goya began ca. 1810, and returned to ca. 1820, was not published by the artist during his lifetime. One of the works is titled ‘Prisoner. The Custody Is as Barbarous as the Crime’. It is considered unique, as it is rarely found in other museum and private collections around the world.

La Tauromaquia (The Art of Bullfighting) series, probably created between 1815 and 1816, reflected the artist’s interest in bullfighting. These works combine the flagrant cruelty of the corrida and his admiration for the skill and exciting action of the games. Of the thirty-three prints in the series, the National Gallery owns five.

While still working on La Tauromaquia, the artist in all probability launched into another series titled Los Disparates (The Follies), the meaning in his time being along the lines of stupidity or madness. The fantastic compositions are encrypted allegories whose impressive depth fascinated artists such as Baudelaire, Hugo, and Delacroix. The National Gallery’s collection houses four of those; two of them—‘Little Bulls’ Folly’ and ‘A Way of Flying’—are emblematic of the artist’s genius.

The National Gallery also owns the etching ‘Blind Singer’, emotionally described by Nikolay Raynov, in his ‘History of the Plastic Arts’ (1939), as ‘first’ among the ‘curious and significant’ graphic works of Goya.

The exhibition also includes a work by the Spanish surrealist artist, Salvador Dali (1904–1989), dedicated to Goya and his Caprichos.