EUROPALIA ESPAÑA presents its main exhibition Luz y Sombra. Goya and Spanish Realism
Luz y Sombra. Goya and Spanish Realism - from 8 October 2025 to 11 January 2026 - Bozar, Brussels
EUROPALIA ESPAÑA presents its main exhibition Luz y Sombra. Goya and Spanish Realism at Bozar (Brussels), running from October 8, 2025, to January 11, 2026. This exhibition is built around one of the grandmasters of Spanish art, whose modern sensibility is more topical today than ever. Goya (1746–1828) is known for his impressive portraits and colourful folk scenes. His œuvre is at the same time characterised by socially critical imagery, including indictments against war and the general abuses of his time.
Curated by Rocío Gracia and Leticia Sastre, along with scientific committee members José de la Mano, Anna Reuter, and Rocío Robles, the exhibition invites reflection on Goya’s work from a contemporary perspective. Goya and the ‘Goyaesque’, with all the connotations of light and shade, have become established in the Western imaginary since the 19th century as models, stereotypes of the authentically Spanish. Far from rejecting them, this exhibition uses these clichés as a springboard, trying to identify the shape and references of some of their basic patterns as a way of understanding ‘Spanishness’.
Goya lived in a time of crisis, transformation, and paradigm shifts, with all the insecurities and possibilities that this generates—perhaps a time similar to our own. He captured the present, reflecting his time, and created a mirror in which we continue to see ourselves, even if our times are different. His contribution to constructing the Spanish collective imagination is undeniable, both within Spain and beyond, not from an idealised or idealising perspective but rather from a critical and visionary attitude.
The exhibition brings together Goya’s paintings, drawings, and engravings with works by his contemporaries and by artists of later generations (José Gutiérrez Solana, Pablo Picasso, Antonio Saura amongst others). In addition, new multidisciplinary creations, such as those by visual artist Asunción Molinos Gordo, sound artist Francisco Lopez, by filmmaker Albert Serra and by contemporary Spanish and Belgian writers, help to demonstrate the relevance of Goya’s œuvre today. The ensemble of approximately 200 works explores Goya’s legacy and its significance in the image of Spain.
The exhibition is accompanied by a unique and richly illustrated catalogue published by Pelckmans in collaboration with EUROPALIA. For more information about the book, check here.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
EUROPALIA ESPAÑA
Luz y Sombra. Goya and Spanish Realism
08 October 2025 - 11 January 2026
Press Conference: 7 October, 10 am
Bozar
Rue Ravenstein 23, 1000 Brussels
https://europalia.eu/en/espana
PUBLICATION
Pelckmans, in collaboration with EUROPALIA, published a unique and richly illustrated catalogue accompanying the exhibition Luz y sombra. Goya and Spanish Realism at BOZAR, Brussels.
The artist’s work is presented alongside that of Spanish artists from the 18th to the 21st centuries, who revived the realist tradition of Spain’s Golden Age and offered a modern view on mysticism and the picaresque at the dawn of a new visual regime.
With this book, readers and visitors receive an indispensable guide to one of the most ambitious exhibitions of the coming year. The book not only sheds new light on Goya’s work but also demonstrates how his legacy has profoundly shaped the history of Spanish art – from the eighteenth century to today.
AROUND GOYA
- FILM
Albert Serra — Bozar, 06.12.2025 - 04.01.2026
In a close-up at Bozar, four films from Albert Serra’s own work are shown, together with three others he selected with Goya in mind. Serra comes to talk about his driving forces and approach and looks at Goya from a cinematographic perspective.
- IN THE EXHIBITION
La Maja Desnuda Eaten by Saturn — Bozar, 08.11.2025 et 06.12.2025
In the new creation La Maja Desnuda Eaten by Saturn, a durational performance, two of Goya’s most famous and most charged works come together: The Naked Maja, for which the painter was summoned by the Inquisition, and Saturn Devouring His Son, one of the ‘black paintings’, created in isolation, surrounded by despair and the political downfall of Spain. Sophía Rodríguez (born in Venezuela, lives in Brussels) embodies the sacrifice: a female body between desire, symbolic violence and political oppression. In Rodriguez’ performance, that body is no longer a passive projection surface but a living presence that remembers, resists and reacts.
The Sleep of Reason — Bozar, 15.11.2025
The Sleep of Reason is the result of a five-day workshop by dancer and choreographer Núria Guiu with the students of the Bachelor Dance program at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. The tableaux vivants are fusions of Goya’s disturbing, satirical world and the performative aesthetics of digital culture, both reflecting systems of illusion, pressure and control.
ABOUT EUROPALIA ESPAÑA
Founded in 1969, EUROPALIA is an international arts festival held every two years in Belgium, focusing on a different country or theme each edition. The festival presents a multidisciplinary programme spanning visual arts, performing arts, music, film, and literature, creating meaningful cultural exchanges between Belgium and featured countries.
Exactly forty years after a first edition in 1985, EUROPALIA ESPAÑA will unfold all over Belgium a multidisciplinary programme, from October 8, 2025, to February 1, 2026, uniting heritage and contemporary art forms and providing fascinating perspectives on themes that connect and challenge us all.
SELECTION OF IMAGES
- Download here
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