Goya. Lights and Shadows. CaixaForum Barcelona

Nearly two hundred years after his death, Francisco de Goya continues to exercise a universal attraction that very few others in the history of art have equalled. Not only is Goya enveloped in the greatness of his art and his genius, he is also shrouded in mystery and popular legend in a way that makes him doubly attractive and accessible.

Now, almost thirty-five years after the last major exhibition devoted to the Spanish master in Barcelona, Goya. Lights and Shadows brings a large selection of great works the collection of El Prado National Museum, the most important in the world. The show features nearly one hundred pieces -oils, drawings, prints and letters- in a chronological journey through the main periods in the career of this Aragón-born artist.

From the early years, in which Goya’s realism contrasted with the over-refined Rococo style favoured by his contemporaries, to the intimate works he produced towards the end of his life in Bordeaux, not forgetting the drama of the Peninsular War, which marked a turning-point in his artistic development.

The exhibition is the fruit of a cooperation agreement signed between ”la Caixa” Foundation and the Prado National Museum 2011 under which the Catalan organisation became a Benefactor of the museum. Under the terms of the agreement, three more joint exhibitions will be organised in the coming years.

Goya. Lights and Shadows. Organised and produced by: ”la Caixa” Foundation and El Prado National Museum. Conceived and curated by: Manuela B. Mena, Head of Conservation, Goya and 18th-century Painting, and José Manuel Matilla, Head of the Department of Prints and Drawings, Prado Museum. Dates: 15 March - 24 June 2012. Place: CaixaForum Barcelona (Av. de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8).     More information in the PDF press release