A face to face with Goya

One painting smiles while another waves and some others look askance. The viewer has entered another universe: Goya's. Not only has he entered, but he also interacts with it. His self-portraits accompany his other works. Goya also looks, waves and smiles. He himself is in charge of presenting his pieces, which have now gone beyond the canvas to adopt movement. The portrayed painter is in the third room of the immersive experience Goya Universe . Between Light and Darkness, produced by Layers of Reality. A transition through his personal and idealistic desires, with objects and 25 original engravings of the artist, and also through his shadows and despair, with the darkest portrait of the painter. A journey through eleven exhibition rooms in which the viewer is bewildered by seeing how his works unravel.

The Naked Maja , which is not naked, nor is it even truly present in the third room, seems to be on the other side of Goya's portraits. Her eyes focus on nothing. But it is an exercise in digital magic that plays with the perception of the person looking at her; but in reality they do not see her. They see her there, but it is an audiovisual trick.

The immersive experience can be visited at the Centre d'Art Amatller from today until April 30

Knowing Goya's paintings is one thing, but being able to delve into the author's artistic creation is another. Becoming a character in his works, inhabiting the same spaces and moving through his creative periods is a possibility that is now becoming real. A human and artistic portrait based on the painter's experience, transgressing it and then returning to the initial place to put the final point. Breaking through the fourth wall.

An interactive piece by artist Franc Aleu makes it possible to see the “ Goytized ” version of each person. Sit on a stool in the fourth room of the exhibition organised by the Centre d'Art Amatller, look at the camera, wait for the photo to be taken and instead of seeing a digital image, you see a portrait on the monitor. A painting of oneself, if it were made by Goya in his darkest period. It is not possible to recognise oneself in its entirety; however, there are similarities in the stroke of the dark character of oneself that appears on the screen. Not because of its identity, but because of the way in which the expressions are identified.

And suddenly, darkness. People suffering, disfigured faces and pain, a lot of pain. A reinterpretation of the events of May 2 and 3 is happening. Without warning, or the ability to react. The paintings now gesticulate, the faces take on an identity, the suffering becomes tangible. The images, in motion, have adopted a visual narrative. The music, created by artificial intelligence, helps integrate the violence of the events into the viewer. The public knows the painting by heart, although it is now perceived differently. The dark spots are not where they should be, the desperation in the eyes no longer speaks only in images. The shootings seem real.

The more the exhibition progresses, the greater the synergy with the artist. Goya's universe is perceived less and less as alien. Fourteen black paintings, which he painted during his stay at El Quinto del Sordo, are now on display. They do so in an immersive room in which the artistic pieces move along the walls, collide with each other and move. The entire room refers to Goya. From the surface to the floor, the projections intoxicate the space.

Through virtual reality glasses, the sensorial experience is multiplied. Eight minutes in which one travels along the Manzanares River, while the artist's works appear and disappear. The spectator enters into the painter's most famous canvases. Here, the works not only move; they look, follow and even devour. Goya's Saturn now does not devour a son, it devours the spectator.

On April 30th, Goya will go on an international tour. He will pack up his paintings, his belongings and leave Barcelona. But not before smiling sideways.