The Government approves the creation of the National Commission to celebrate the bicentenary of Goya’s death in 2028

This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved the Royal Decree that creates and regulates the National Commission for the Recovery of the Commemoration of the bicentennial of the death of Francisco de Goya in 2028, with the aim of promoting and coordinating the activities organized around this anniversary.

This was announced by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration of Spain, Elma Saiz, in the press conference after the Council of Ministers, who recalled that this Royal Decree is approved a week after the creation of the National Commission for the commemoration of the Centennial of the Generation of ’27.

“Celebrating its bicentennial is an opportunity to look in the mirror, understand where we come from and decide what Spain we want to be in the 21st century,” he stated.

National or international public administrations, as well as public and private entities specializing in the life and work of Francisco de Goya, will collaborate in the National Commission. This body, according to the Ministry of Culture, will have the task of promoting a broad and coherent program of activities that responds to the expectations of this cultural commemoration.

It will work to support and promote academic and informative studies that deepen and improve knowledge of the painter’s artistic production, as well as highlighting his contributions to art and the advancement of public freedoms. It will also assume the dissemination of its legacy in collaboration with public administrations and organizations in the country that want to join the project, with special attention to the institutions and entities of Aragon.

The National Commission will be chaired by the President of the Government and its vice-presidents will be in charge of the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation and the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory. The Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, the Secretariats of State for Culture, Territorial Policy, Democratic Memory and International Cooperation, as well as the Undersecretariats of Culture, Presidency and Finance, participate in its Plenary Session.

In addition, institutions such as the Prado Museum, the National Heritage Administration Council, Spanish Cultural Action SME, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts of the Ministry of Culture are represented.

Once the creation of the National Commission is approved – its constitutive meeting will be convened soon in which its operation will be established – a roadmap will be proposed on which the institutions involved in the commemoration will work.

In 2028, two centuries have passed since the death of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, who died in Bordeaux on April 16, 1828. Born in Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, in 1746, he is internationally recognized as one of the most important artists in the history of art.

A COMMISSION CLAIMED BY ARAGON

The creation of the National Goya Commission is a demand that has been made by the government of Aragon, by its president Jorge Azcón, who has repeatedly urged this measure. “We all want to work together, but it is true that we lack the Government of Spain,” Azcón lamented on January 13 during a visit to the exhibitions ‘Serrano ante Goya Entretenimientos en el Prado’ and ‘Goya, Cazador de Tendencias’, at the IAACC Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza.

Azcón explained that in June 2024 he sent a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, requesting his collaboration because the bicentennial “affects all of Spain.” “If Goya had been Catalan, do not have the slightest doubt that today the Government of Spain would be paying attention to us and Aragon,” he stated.