Here in room 201, we can see works by two artists who were ahead of their time and whose creative approach led them to be considered pioneers.
Between 1810 and 1815, the first of them, Francisco de Goya, created a series of engravings, a selection of which you can see in the 11 facsimiles on display here. They show appalling scenes of pain and suffering, drawn at the height of the ¿Peninsular War? against Napoleon.
Goya went beyond the previously epic portrayal of war, turning his own thoughts and sense of defeat when faced with the brutal consequences of a military invasion, into a form of artistic expression and almost a kind of protest.
Pain, depicted here in scenes of dark, raw, chiaroscuro, pays no heed to flags or uniforms. It affects soldiers and civilians, the guilty and the innocent alike, in a series of violent acts that destroy that which they purport to defend. Faced with this, the artist acquired a subjective and openly critical role, anticipating the artistic ideas of the early 20th century that we will come to in the next few rooms.
(c) (R) 2012, MUSMon com S.L.
The Reina Sofia MUSMon.com audioguide makes a better visit to the "Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia" (MNCARS). It is an independent production from the museum. It offers 67 minutes of two voices narrations with 43 explanations of works, authors and artistic trends.
It comes with 65 photographs, and museum plans. It also includes the full text transcriptions of voiceover, technical data and several organized itineraries. +info