The "Only Goya. The Art of Seeing" series, organized by Fundación Ibercaja, aims to explore the figure, ideas and extraordinary relevance of the Aragonese artist through the voices of some of today’s most prominent cultural and intellectual figures. The series complements the exhibition of the same name, curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano, which can be visited at the Goya Museum until January 10.
The program will bring together renowned academics, writers, historians and essayists between October and December to examine different aspects of the work and personality of the brilliant painter from Fuendetodos. The lectures, which are free to attend (registration is required through the Fundación Ibercaja website until capacity is reached), will be held in the renovated conference room at the Goya Museum.
PROGRAM FOR "ONLY GOYA. THE ART OF SEEING"
The program will begin next Tuesday, October 13, with the lecture "The Influence of Enlightenment Thinkers on Goya’s Painting," delivered by Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Royal Spanish Academy. He will analyze the relationship between the artist and the Enlightenment ideas that shaped one of the most decisive periods in Spanish history.
The series will continue on October 28 with José Manuel Sánchez Ron, a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and winner of the Menéndez Pelayo International Prize, who will give the lecture "Goya, Witness to a Turbulent Era." It will focus on the close relationship between the painter’s biography and the profound political, social and scientific changes that defined his time.
The relationship between Goya and the unconscious will be explored on November 4 by Mexican writer Juan Villoro, who will give the lecture "A Dreamed Reality,” placing particular emphasis on an analysis of the paintings from the “black period” and the prints the artist called “caprices.”
One week later, on November 11, academic and historian Juan Francisco Fuentes will present "The Body Is the Message. Portraiture in Goya’s Work," a reflection on the evolution of Goya’s portraiture and its ability to capture the psychology and character of those who sat before his brushes.
The series will continue on November 18 with writer and Royal Spanish Academy member Soledad Puértolas, who will analyze representations of everyday life in the lecture "Everyday Scenes. The Sweetness of the Ancien Régime."
Finally, on December 2, poet, novelist and essayist Félix de Azúa will close the program with "Bonds of Affection. Goya’s Intimate World of Friends and Relatives," focusing on Goya’s absolute modernity and his representation of death.
