"I think the audience will see in these images of Los Caprichos , even if they were created in the late 1700's, the incredible relevance to the current state of the world, "said Deborah Scott, Director / CEO of Taft Museum of Art" Goya created these works so controversial in times of economic crisis in Spain. Also articulated the ideals of the Enlightenment through his work, questioning the church, politicians and other authority figures . "

Los Caprichos are probably the most prevalent works of the great Spanish artist and continue to inspire contemporary artists. Both prints, as well as images, they are decades ahead of its time. Goya was the pioneer of extraordinary and innovative printmaking techniques, visual forms and artistic issues in anticipation of later movements known as Realism, Post Impressionism, Symbolism and Surrealism.

"In these images, ravishing and often dark, Goya anticipated hallucinations the world one hundred years of human irrationality and the dreams of Freud and the Surrealists," said Lynne Ambrosini, Curator of Taft Museum of Art

The prints on display belong to a first edition, one of four sets purchased directly from Goya and currently owned by a U.S. private collector. The exhibition was organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions , Los Angeles, California, in conjunction with Deneberg Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California. Goya (1746-1826) is one of the greatest artists in the world, as famous for his portraits seem to penetrate the soul of his models, like the drawings of the brutality of the Napoleonic Wars in Spain (1808-1814). Taft Museum of Art has an oil portrait of Goya, very important, Queen Maria Luisa of Spain , dating from 1800.

"It's amazing how Goya transformed, sometimes ghostly visions of great beauty in something through the power of illustration and engraving techniques," says Ambronisi. "The skies are dark velvety charcoal surface, so soft that you would like to touch, his monsters have softer skins, haunting and Fouling and its decadent Spanish ladies wearing lace mantilla lines drawn with great delicacy."