Plate 60 – "Relámpagos", from Les Caprices de Goya

This work is from the suite of 80 etchings by Salvador Dali based on Francisco Goya's 18th century series Los Caprichos. Goya's series served as a satirical commentary on Spanish society at the end of the 18th century, particularly targeting the nobility and clergy, as well as superstitions and irrationality prevalent at the time. In 1977, Dali reproduced the series as heliogravures, subsequently reworking each of the plates with Surrealist drypoint additions and stencil colouring.

'Goya was preoccupied with dreams, dreamlike states, and nightmares - the varying states of consciousness that allowed him to explore allusive subjects...The Caprichos provide the earliest concentrated evidence of Goya's interest in dreams..."Truth to life" is the essence of what Goya achieved through his graphic work. His prints and drawings quietly observe, confront, dissect, and reflect the many facets of what it means to be human. This truth to life has fueled the works' relevance over the course of two centuries, as they continue to provoke audiences to engage with Goya's profound insights'. Mark McDonald, 'Goya's Graphic Imagination', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021.

Drypoint and etching on heliogravures in colours on Rives paper, 1977, signed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 200 (there were also 20 artist's proofs), printed by Ateliers Rigal, Paris, published by Berggreuen Editions, Paris, sheet: 44.5 x 31 cm. (17½ x 12¼ in.)

Michler and Löpsinger 907; Field 77-3 21