The Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Manhattan’s Washington Heights announced plans to launch a new global hub for the research and preservation of works by Spanish Romantic artist Francisco José de Goya y los Lucientes this coming September. The forthcoming Goya Research Center will be comprised of both virtual and onsite components, offering scholars worldwide new opportunities to connect with the artist’s life, work, and legacy ahead of the 200th anniversary of Goya’s death in 2028.
“The Goya center hopes to provide an equivalent for European efforts in the United States,” said Patrick Lenaghan, the Hispanic Society’s head curator for prints and photographs, in reference to successful initiatives at Museo del Prado, the Fundación Goya en Aragón, and the Louvre Museum.
Lenaghan noted to Hyperallergic that the research center’s digital platform will give researchers access to various public collections holding works by Goya, and that the onsite center, adjacent to the Library’s Reading Room, will connect scholars to each other and promote the exchange of findings and ideas.
In its own collections, the Hispanic Society currently boasts four paintings, 13 drawings, and some 800 prints by Goya, supplemented by various works by several of his colleagues and admirers. The center aims to organize exhibitions and research publications, encourage research and analysis into Goya’s masterpieces local to New York, and develop a fellowship program as well as an annual symposium to stimulate the next generation of Goya experts.
“Goya’s artworks continue to fascinate viewers today, nearly 200 years after his death, because of their timeless and tragically relevant themes,” the Hispanic Society’s Director and CEO Guillaume Kientz told Hyperallergic in an email. Among Goya’s most celebrated works are “The Third of May 1808” (1814), a radically emotional depiction of the French army cornering a group of unarmed Spaniards during one of the Napoleonic Wars, and his copperplate print series Disasters of War (1810–1820), in which he depicts military atrocities, famine, and active combat scenes from the Peninsular War that are devoid of any sense of victory.
“His unwavering condemnation of violence in all its forms — whether it be the disasters of war, abuses against women, religious violence, or steadfast faith in truth and liberty — makes him an inspiring humanist,” Kientz continued. “Goya’s powerful and evocative depictions resonate deeply with contemporary audiences, reminding us of the enduring need for compassion, justice, and a stand against brutality.”
In addition to Kientz and Lenaghan, the Goya Research Center’s Committee is made up of New York-based academics and museum professionals, including independent scholars Susan Grace Galassi and Janis Tomlinson, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Dorothy Mahon and David Pullins, the Morgan Library’s John Marciari, Xavier F. Salomon from the Frick Collection, and Lisa Small from the Brooklyn Museum.
