Volaverunt: Goya from contemporaneity

Francisco de Goya's engravings, full of satire, poetry and social criticism, have always been a disturbing mirror of his time and now 'Volaverunt. Goya's engravings from the contemporaneity', proposes to approach them from the contemporaneity. An exhibition, already inaugurated in 2021 at the Museu de Mataró ca l'Arenas Center d'art, arrives in Santa Coloma de Gramenet to connect the art of the 18th and 19th centuries with the present day, through a deep dialogue and critic, with new readings and a renewed look.

The exhibition, between the Torre Balldovina Museum and the Can Sisteré Contemporary Art Center , brings together Goya's four most emblematic series: Caprichos, Desastres de la guerra, Bullfighting and Misparates. This set of 217 engravings, from the Mataró Museum, is an edition from 1937, produced in the middle of the Spanish Civil War in the workshops of the Calcografía Nacional in Madrid. This stamp, a cultural project of the republican government, has become a symbol of resistance at a time of great historical turbulence.

The exhibition, curated by Aina Mercader Sbert , incorporates an intriguing element: the absence of the engraving 'Se aprovechan', number 16 of Desastres de la guerra. This missing piece, whose loss is still the subject of debate—was it accidental or intentional?—becomes the starting point for the reflection that underpins the exhibition. The title, Volaverunt, comes from Latin and means "to fly", suggesting the lack of something. This absence gives rise to a dialogue with contemporary works created expressly by artists such as Irene Solà , Anna Dot , Marcos Prior , the Compañía La Soledad (Marc Caellas and Esteban Feune de Colombi), and local creators Miquel Àngel Para and Benito Marcos .

'Hablan por la mano', Anna Dot

The contemporary interventions offer a reinterpretation of Goya themes: social criticism, human contradictions and the fragility of the human condition. Through their works, these artists amplify Goya's voice, connecting it to issues that are still valid and the result is a critical artistic exercise that highlights the validity of the artist as a chronicler of the injustices of his time, injustices which, despite the centuries, continue to resonate today.

The exhibition can be visited from today, December 1, until February 23 , with parallel activities to delve deeper into Goya's universe and the connections it establishes with the art of our time.