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• Wed 23 Oct
• 90 minutes

Synopsis

Synopsis

From the cave paintings of Altamira to the cinema of Pedro Almadóvar, Spain has an impressive history of visual art. This course offers a selective introduction to that history. Each session considers a major Spanish artist or an artist working in Spain. The emphasis throughout is on the dialogue between tradition and modernity: how old masters such as El Greco, Velázquez and Goya anticipated aspects of modern art and how modern artists like Picasso, Miró and Dalí continued to find inspiration in the work of the Spanish masters.

Overview

Each session offers an introduction to an aspect of Spanish art and will address specific themes, contexts and artists. The sessions will typically consist of two halves: the first giving a broader overview of an artist’s career; the second an in-depth discussion of a particular artwork.

Week 1: El Greco

El Greco (1541-1614) is best known for his religious paintings of elongated figures and unnaturally coloured landscapes. Following his death, El Greco fell out of fashion, his paintings dismissed as ‘eccentric’, ‘incoherent’ and ‘bizarre’. Two hundred and fifty years later these qualities proved irresistible to modern artists who claimed El Greco’s as one of their own, his work hailed as a precursor to Cubism, Surrealism and Expressionism.

Week 2: Velázquez

Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) was the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Court painter to Philip IV, Velázquez is famed for his cunning compositions and bravura paint handling.  A painter’s painter, Velázquez was a decisive influence on modern art, revered by everyone from Eduard Manet to Francis Bacon.    

Week 3: Goya

Francisco Goya (1746–1828) possessed an unflinching eye. Documenting the atrocities of war and the political turbulences of his time, Goya depicts a world beset by murder, madness and monsters.  His example set a precedent for contemporary depictions of conflict, including those of Picasso, Leon Golub, and the Chapman Brothers.

Week 4: Picasso

Building on the previous sessions, this talk looks at Picasso’s relation to the Spanish tradition looking at his engagement with the work of El Greco, Velázquez and Goya.  

Week 5: Picasso and Picabia

Picasso and Picabia were the best of frenemies, acquaintances whose relationship entailed both personal friendship and professional rivalry. This talk considers the rapport between the two artists with an emphasis on their antithetical responses to the Spanish Civil War.

Week 6: Miró  

This talk offers an overview of Joan Miró’s career, from his early paintings of the Spanish countryside, through his semi-abstract pictures of Catalan peasants, to his adoption of his signature style of biomorphic abstraction.  

Course Tutor: Dr Simon Marginson 

Dr Simon Marginson is an independent art historian and curatorial researcher. He specialises in twentieth-century art and has published on various aspects of British and European modernism.

Images:

Left - Diego Veláquez, Las Meninas, 1656

Right - Pablo Picasso, Las Meninas, 1957

Course Dates on Wednesdays 10.30am-12 noon:

23rd and 30th October

6th, 13th, 20th and 27th November

Starts Wednesday 23rd October 2024

£42 for six sessions

Wharfeside Theatre (unallocated seating)