Goya universe: between light and dark

This past Wednesday, February 26, the new temporary exhibition Univers Goya. Between light and darkness was presented at the Amatller Art Center. The exhibition will open to the public from February 27 and tickets can be purchased until April 30, 2025.

This exhibition, which is characterized by its immersion through museographic resources, brings visitors closer to the world of Francisco de Goya, both from a personal and human point of view as well as an artistic and historical one. It is also a tribute to the painter on the eve of the upcoming celebrations: the 280th anniversary of his birth, in 2026, and the 200th anniversary of his death, in 2028.

The curators of the exhibition are Artur Duart and Imma Fondevila , while the design of the museography was carried out by Dani Freixes/Varis Arquitectes and the Tururut and la Cancan studios. The musician Rafel Plana and the digital artist and renowned Catalan scenographer, Franc Aleu , among others, have also collaborated in the creation of the exhibition. The show also pays tribute to Santiago Alcolea , an art historian who was the director of the Institut Amatller d'Art Hispànic Foundation for 40 years and who died last year.

11 exhibition space rooms

The exhibition consists of eleven rooms, among which the large immersive room of more than 300 m² stands out, where the visitor will be able to connect with the knowledge and emotions that guide the artist in his creations, with special emphasis on the Black Paintings of the Quinta del Sordo. It also includes a virtual reality room where attendees can travel through his most famous paintings, which have the Manzanares River as their setting; a recreation of Godoy's private residence, from where they will discover how he observed the two beauties; a reinterpretation of the events of May 2 and 3; engravings by the artist and rooms with original objects, among others.

The immersive experience has been produced by Layers of Reality for the Amatller Art Centre, and features various scenographic and digital art content and installations created in collaboration with several contemporary studios and artists. The exhibition rooms include: An Era for an Artist (Room 1), An Artist Out of His Time (Room 2), Goya's Human Universe (Room 3), The Mastery of Technique (Room 4), The Training and Rise of the Artist (Room 5), Crisis and Transformation of Genius (Rooms 6 to 8), The Engraving Workshop (Room 9), An Immersive Room , La Quinta de Goya , Sala RV and El Manzanares de Goya.