Word: spanishness
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...same, he presided over an era when Spanish painting was moving, sometimes spectacularly, into the golden age that it fully arrived at after his death. You understand that right away from the thunderclap that is the first gallery of "El Greco to Velázquez: Art During the Reign of Philip III," which has just opened at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. There are five fierce El Grecos in that room, all humming in his high, mad register. Spain may have been adrift, but its art was advancing nicely--and advancing into territory where you might not have...
Though it's not the only subject of this wonderful exhibition, co-curated by Ronni Baer of the Boston MFA and Sarah Schroth of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, one of the show's plain lessons is that during Philip's reign, Spanish painters perfected the means of bringing recognizable human beings into their art. Spain may have been a center of Catholic piety, its eyes always fastened on heaven, but its paintings were full of vital, supple people made of real flesh and blood...
...which stare at the viewer in terrified accusation, as if to say, "Look at what you've done." Bloodspecked bodies crumpled at the bottom of each painting now form a single visual line and provide a graphic reminder that the French massacre of "innocent" militiamen occurred only after the Spanish had slaughtered their share of French soldiers. "Look at their faces: Goya doesn't present them as innocent," says Mena. "Violence begets violence...
...19th century were a time of tremendous creativity for Goya, and the full range of his talent is on display in this show. His modernity is evident not only in his dark depictions of human irrationality, but in his psychologically acute portraits. From his warm, intimate portrayal of Spanish King Charles IV and his family, to the petulant knowingness of the young Marchioness de Montehermoso, to the vague disappointment of the slightly mustachioed Doña Juana Galarza, who clutches a crumpled fan in her sausage-like fingers, Goya captured the individuality of his sitters, regardless of their social class...
Concentration: Psychology, Spanish...