Past ExhibitionsExhibition
Will Truth Be Resurrected?
– Goya's The Disasters of War, the Complete Set

Dates

Tuesday, 27 February - Sunday, 26 May 2024

Hours

9:30 am – 5:30 pm
Fridays, Saturdays, 28 April, 29 April, 5 May and 6 May 9:30 am – 8:00 pm
Admission ends 30 mins. before closing time

Closed

Mondays and 7 May (Opens 25 March, 29 April, 30 April and 6 May)

Venue

Prints and Drawings Gallery, New Wing

Admission Fees

Adults 500 yen (400 yen), college and university students 250 yen (200 yen)

• * Admission is free for Special Exhibition or Permanent Collection ticket holders.
• * Numbers in parenthesis indicate discount fees for groups of 20 or more.
• * Free for high school students, under 18, seniors (65 and over), Campus Members. Please show your ID upon entrance.
• * Disabled visitors admitted free of charge, with one attendant. Please present your disability identification upon arrival.
• * Free admission of this exhibition and Permanent Collection on 10 March, 14 April, 12 May 2024 (Kawasaki Free Sunday).
• * Free admission of this exhibition and Permanent Collection on 18 May 2024 (Culture Day).

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Organized by

The National Museum of Western Art

With the cooperation of

The Western Art Foundation

The Disasters of War is a print series created by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). The war portrayed is the 1808-1814 Spanish War of Independence, and the series depicts battle scenes, ordinary citizens suffering in those settings, and political satire.
Goya stepped beyond simply depicting the Spanish people’s resistance to the outrages committed by the French army. Instead, he was unstinting, turning an amazingly cool eye on the horrors created by the maelstrom called war. These masterworks deliver a universal message across the centuries as they reveal the darkest depths of human existence.

This series was not published during Goya’s lifetime, and it wasn’t until 1863 that the first edition of 80 prints was put on sale. The NMWA acquired a complete set of the first edition in 1993, and since then has often exhibited prints from the series. In 2017, two numbered sheets not included in the first edition were acquired. And yet, to date, only 37 of these 82 works in the NMWA collection have been displayed. This exhibition will introduce all 82 prints, both the complete series and the two additional sheets.

Even now, two centuries after Goya's time, wars continue unabated around the world, and people continue to be sacrificed. Goya’s etchings of visually painful tragedies are not simply events of the distant past, but issues we confront today. What should we do when truth and justice break down and the dark side of civilization is revealed? We hope you will consider such fundamental questions as you come face-to-face with Goya’s The Disasters of War series in this display.

Exhibition Checklist (PDF file, about 1.02MB)

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