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Past Exhibitions
Goya:Luces y Sombras. Obras Maestras del Museo del Prado / Goya:Lights and Shadows. Masterpieces of the Museo del Prado

Goya:Luces y Sombras. Obras Maestras del Museo del Prado / Goya:Lights and Shadows. Masterpieces of the Museo del Prado

Dates
Saturday 22 October 2011 - Sunday 29 January 2012
Venue
Special Exhibition Galleries,NMWA
Organizers
The National Museum of Western Art,
Museo Nacional del Prado, The Yomiuri Shimbun
Patronized by
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs,The Embassy of Spain in Japan
With the Special Sponsorship of:
Canon
With the Sponsorship of
SHIMIZU CORPORATION,
Kao Corporation,SOMPO JAPAN INSURANCE INC.,Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.Toray Industries, Inc.TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION,KDDI CORPORATION,Mizuho Bank, Ltd.
Collaborated by
Air France, Instituto Cervantes de Tokio,The Western Art Foundation
Number of visitors
333,910

Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) - the Old Master from Spain whose acutely critical eye and intellectual acumen grasped the many diverse aspects of society and human psychology, all helping pave the path for modern painting. Goya's works stand as testament to Europe's age of great social upheavals, as they move us even today, two centuries later.

Goya rose from his humble beginnings as the son of a regional artisan to become court painter to King Charles IV of Spain. Goya's portraits of the royal family and members of their court won him great acclaim. As peace in Spain crumbled in the face of Napoleon's invasion, the elderly Goya came face to face with the suffering of the ordinary people caught up in war and chaos. His gaze then turned beyond reality, to the realm of dreams and visions, which led him to create unique works that can be said to herald the beginnings of modern painting. Goya's creative activities, supported by an unquenchable curiosity about the human condition, continued undiminished throughout his 82 years of life.

This exhibition presents a selection of oil paintings and drawings, 72 in total from the Museo del Prado in Madrid, long renowned as a treasure trove of European painting, along with 51 prints from the collection of the NMWA and other museums in Japan. Focusing on the themes of light and shadow, this exhibition explores Goya's pictorial arts from different vantage points, as it endeavors to get to the heart of his creative genius.