Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos were published in 1799 at a time of social repression and economic crisis in Spain.  They comprise one of the most influential graphic series in the history of Western art.  The exhibition includes an early first edition of the complete set of 80 engravings, one of the four sets acquired in 1799 directly from Goya by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna.  Francisco Goya (1746--1828) was born in Zaragoza, Spain and became one of the most influential and prolific artists of his time.  His career spanned more than 60 years.  He is often considered to be the founder of "modern art" because of the way in which he critiqued and examined the social, cultural, religious, and courtly world in which he found himself.

Influenced by Enlightenment thinking, the painter set out to analyze the human condition and denounce social abuses and superstitions. Los Caprichos was his passionate declaration that the chains of social backwardness had to be broken if humanity was to advance.  The series attests to the artist's political liberalism and his revulsion towards ignorance and intellectual oppression; at the same time it mirrors Goya's ambivalence toward authority and the church.

Los Caprichos includes themes of the Spanish Inquisition, the abuses of the church and the nobility, witchcraft, child rearing, avarice, and the frivolity of young women. The often-subhuman cast of Los Caprichos includes goblins, monks, prostitutes, witches, animals acting like human fools, and aristocrats. These personages populate the world on the margins of reason, where no clear boundaries distinguish reality from fantasy.

The exhibition also includes collateral work demonstrating the broad influence of Los Caprichos including a 1920s drawing by Edward Hagedorn. Eight etchings by contemporary artist Enrique Chagoya titled Return to the Caprichos are also part of this compelling exhibition.