„Seht wie würdevoll!“ Spanish master prints by Goya and Dalí

24.10.2025-25.01.2026 im Schaezlerpalais

Two outstanding series of paintings by the Spanish artists Francisco de Goya (1746 - 1828) and Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989) are at the centre of the exhibition. It begins with the socially critical sheets from ‘Los Caprichos’ by Goya, which were created between 1793 and 1799. Today, they are among the most famous graphic cycles in European art and paved the way for modernism.

In homage to his great compatriot, Salvador Dalí transformed this key work into his surreal formal language two centuries later from 1973 to 1977 and responded to its bitter irony: ‘Look how dignified’! (‘Miren que grabes!’). You can look forward to an artistic dialogue between two graphic series, a selection of which are on loan from Spain for a few months in Augsburg.

Los Caprichos – Social satire in the works of Goya and Dalí

The ironic nature of the series of prints is already evident in the title, Miren que grabes! (Seht wie würdevoll!). Derived from the Italian capriccio – a carefree mood, a whim – the term ‘Los Caprichos’ downplays the content of the diverse, socially critical series of images. It is a series of 80 sheets, of which a total of 300 sets were printed. Only a few of them came onto the market in 1799, as Francisco de Goya discontinued them early on for fear of the Inquisition. The cryptic content of the drawings may also have served to protect him – then as now, interpreting this ambiguous social satire is a challenge.

Salvador Dalí had the entire series reproduced using a photomechanical printing process known as heliogravure and reworked these sheets from 1973 to 1977. In his own formal language, he also critically examines the social conditions of the time in his cycle and elevates Goya's ‘Los Caprichos’ to the surreal.

The exhibition in Augsburg's Schaezlerpalais highlights individual pairs of images and considers their possible interpretation in a historical and social context.

The prints on display are on loan from the Fundación Museo de Artes do Gravado á Estampa Dixital in northern Spain. The exhibition is supported by Stadtsparkasse Augsburg and the Kurt and Felicitas Viermetz Foundation. Many thanks!

You are cordially invited to the opening on Thursday, 23 October 2025, at 6 p.m.