“Yo lo vi” (I saw it), Francisco de Goya commented on the 44th image in his TheDisasters of War series from the year 1863. In view of the current war taking place in Europe, the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg is dedicating a presentation to the famous Spanish court painter, who used his series to condemn wars and social abuse. The exhibition shows all four print cycles, in which the images that are exclusively available in bound books ‒ Los Caprichos (The Caprices) and TheDisasters of War ‒can be viewed in their entirety for the first time as large projections.

Francisco de Goya (1746‒1828) first appealed to a new clientele with the sale of 80 etchings and aquatints in his extensive Los Caprichos, a denunciation of social abuse. Ten years later, in the extensive, 82-folio TheDisasters of War (1863) print series, Goya denounced a loss of reason and the violence of the fight against the occupation of Napoleon’s troops and the famines endured at the beginning of the 19th century.

The exhibition shows some three dozen original prints and all four of the artist’s print cycles, to which La Tauromaquia (Bullfighting, 1814–16) and Los Disparates (The Follies, 1819–23) also belong. Goya, with his fantastical art, is an important predecessor of Surrealism whom the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg is now shifting into central focus.

Accompanying the exhibition, the film series Goya on Screen was held on 29 September, 26 October and 30 November 2022 with films by Konrad Wolf, Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman.

A special presentation of the Nationalgalerie ‒ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in cooperation with Bard College in Berlin.