Despite being separated in time by nearly 200 years, Sigmar Polke felt a deep admiration for Francisco de Goya. The show at Museo del Prado, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, explores how the Spanish master influenced the work of the German painter, after he saw for the first time Goya’s Time and the Old Women in 1982.
From painting to photography, film installations and prints, Polke’s work revolutionised the international art scene. His use of innovative materials and techniques combined with his often-confrontational attitude towards political and social conventions labelled him as an anti-establishment artist.
Francisco de Goya, in his own way, was also an anti-establishment artist. He lived during the turbulent times of the Napoleonic invasion, a time when the Spanish monarchs were useless and the Church abused its power to criminal levels. His disgust was reflected in his art, which he used as a weapon to denounce the horrors and injustices he witnessed. At the same time, he could be humorous and acerbic, very much like Sigmar Polke.
Sigmar Polke taking a photograph of the painting Time and the Old Women, by Goya, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, 1982.
Photograph © Britta Zoellne.
In Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed, visitors will discover motifs, techniques and elements of composition that Polke took from Goya. The Museo del Prado identifies Goya’s influence on Polke in three different ways: first, the man himself and the socio-political surrounding context; second: the objectual and anthropomorphic iconography found both in Time and the Old Women (1810-12) and in the X-radiographs that Polke took of the painting in 1982; and third, the specific execution of the picture.
The show examines in detail Polke’s exploration of the painting. His X-radiographs revealed an earlier composition featuring a Resurrection of Christ ascending to heaven, surrounded by souls. This composition instigated an interest in the artist for the magical and the paranormal, which is reflected in many of his works, such as Untitled (Triptych), where ghostly faces peep out between layers of resin, amidst an intentionally ambiguous composition. The figure of Saturn, who appears behind the two old women holding a broom in a menacing manner, together with The Colossus (attributed to Goya, c. 1808) inspired the theme of gigantic figures that we see in works by Polke such as Black Man (1982), Large Man (1986-92) and the gigantic figures developed in 1997, which most powerful execution is possibly Fear (Black Man).
From the left, The Colossus (attributed to Goya, 1808), Polke’s Large Man (1986-92), Black Man (1982) and Fear (Black Man) (1997).
Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed. Photo ©Museo Nacional del Prado.
Curated by Gloria Moure, Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed is an intriguing exhibition – the first solo of the artist in Madrid – that will certainly take visitors into a journey of discovery of the German artist’s work, often described as a dialogue between the viewer and the artist. In doing so, visitors may find themselves invited to raise their own questions about aesthetic, political, and social conventions. The synergies with Goya’s paintings provide a further invitation to reflection, since the work of the Spanish master, back in the early 19th century, seem to indicate that he felt the Age of Enlightenment would end up in socio-political chaos and disorder.
Sigmar Polke. Affinities Revealed
Until 16th March 2025
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Free access
More information,HERE.
Author: Julia Pasarón
If you liked this article, you may enjoy reading The Living End: Painting and other Technologies, 1970–2020.
Leading image: image of the exhibition galleries Sigmar Polker. Affinities Revealed featuring Polke’s Ashes over Ashes (1992) and Goya’s Time and the Old Women. Photo ©Museo Nacional del Prado.
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