06.10.2025 - 11.01.2026

The opening exhibition of Europalia Spain highlights the pioneering work of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) within the context of his contemporaries and successive generations of artists. Through his striking depictions of injustice and human struggle, Goya shaped modern Spanish realist art, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate across seventy featured artists, spanning the 18th century to today.

The scenography draws on the contrasts inherent in Goya’s work: classicism versus baroque, reason versus irrationality, portraiture’s beauty versus the horror of violence, and personal reflection versus political critique. These tensions are not ruptures but zones of dialogue—spaces where Goya’s visionary, enlightener, and painterly roles intersect.

A thematic color palette guides visitors through the exhibition, with each section —Goya as Painter, Goya as Enlightener, and Goya in Synthesis— defined by its own chromatic atmosphere. Freestanding walls mark transitions, displaying works that hint at what follows. Colors flow subtly across gradients at the walls’ bases, creating continuity rather than abrupt breaks.

The result is a visual flow rather than a break: a scenographic reflection of Goya’s complexity, revealing his continual search and refusal to resolve contradictions. The shift becomes a visual passage; not a break, but a movement. These subtle gradations form the scenographic response to the complexity of Goya's oeuvre. Rather than imposing a singular vision, the colour gradients aim to reveal a continuous quest: that of a painter who transcends his time by refusing to resolve contradictions, instead laying them bare.

Client: Europalia
Location: BOZAR, Brussels / BE
Curators: Rocio Gracia Ipiña, Leticia Sastre Sánchez, icw Europalia
Artistic Direction: Dirk Vermaelen with Elsa Duhaut
Execution: Chloroform
Lighting: Colin Fincoeur lighting
Audio-visuals: Thomas Bernardet
Art handling: Fuller
Graphic design: Sara De Bondt studio
Execution of graphic design: Bulle color sprl
Assistant: Olivia De Bree
Photography: Robbrecht Desmet

Europalia España