Mala Noche

The Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo (MASP for short) always smells a little funny and has a permanent collection that is far from enticing. The museum will, however, occasionally host a visiting exhibit worth seeing. Also, it has the added benefit of being situated a quick 20-minute jaunt from our apartment. I have been a few times and was once quite taken by a collection of Picasso drawings visiting from the US. So, when I saw the bright red "Goya" sign outside the museum the other day on my way to the gym I was excited.

I arrived at the museum this afternoon to discover that what I was hoping would be a showcase of paintings was in fact a collection of etchings. Furthermore, the highlight of exhibit was Goya's "Disasters of War" series which includes images of people being tortured, stabbed and executed as well as those of decapitated bodies and limbs hanging from trees. Yes, the topic is very timely as Goya was bringing attention to the horrible after effects of war (the Spanish War of Independence also known as the Peninsular War, 1808-14), but I was hoping to fill my afternoon with a little more color and a little less gore.

My favorite etching that I saw was Mala Noche or Bad Night (which could have easily been the title of my previous post). It is a part of the "Los Caprichos" ("The Caprices") series which has been referred to on more than one website I've visited as "one of the most influential series of graphic images in the history of Western art." Again, I wish that I could have stood there appreciating Goya's supposed feats of artistic expression, but instead I longed for the delicate colors of his portraits I've visited so often at the Met.

Luckily I was able to cleanse my palate with the other visiting exhibit, Manet, one of my favorite artists. Containing only four of his paintings and taking up one large green wall, it was like a burst of light after emerging from a long, dark tunnel.