April 2, 2021
Exhibition Date: April 5, 2021 – Ongoing
Dreamlike and wonderous, yet gravely dark and harrowing, are all descriptors associated with Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes’ (1746-1828) last major print cycle, Los Disparates (or Los Proverbios). Published in 1864, thirty-six years after the artist’s death, these masterful etchings are still considered to be enigmatic and ambiguous, eluding definitive explanation and interpretation. While the Spanish term “disparate” translates imperfectly to “folly”, in Goya’s time the term held harsher connotations closer in meaning to stupidity or madness. And yet, Los Disparates were born of specific circumstances referencing fanatic religious practices of the day, the plight of political prisoners, and the decadence of court life and the aristocracy. Within these remarkable etchings is a realm of witches, ghosts, and fantastical creatures that invade the mind; Goya’s troubled visions remain a potent warning against a world without reason.