Goya’s Modern Echoes in Zaragoza
The New York Times revisits Goya through a museum piece in Zaragoza and asks why he still feels so present. The short answer in the summary is that his images of society remain sharply critical, and sometimes uncomfortably familiar.
Published by The New York Times on October 9, 2026 and relayed here by ArtsJournal, the piece asks a direct question: why does Goya still matter? The summary points to an unsettling answer, suggesting that some of his images feel close to situations we still recognize today.
For artists and for anyone who looks closely at painting and drawing, the interest lies in how Goya sees. He does not simply record his world; he examines its tensions, habits, and failures with a critical distance that gives the work its lasting edge.
There is also something to learn from the craft of the image itself. Goya shows how drawing and painting can carry social observation without losing visual force, and how line, composition, and the treatment of faces and bodies can make a scene feel immediate long after its time.
Source : ArtsJournal