Francisco Goya’s “Los Caprichos” etchings, one of the most influential series of graphic images in the history of Western art, will be on display at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art April 14 through June 10.

The exhibition features a first edition of the complete set of 80 “Los Caprichos” etchings, which provide a satirical and damning look at 18th-century Spanish society. This set is one of four acquired directly from Goya in 1799 by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. It later came into the hands of Pedro Fernandez Duran, the greatest Spanish art collector of the 19th century and a major donor to the Museo del Prado in Madrid. His collector’s mark appears on each print.

For comparison, the 100-piece exhibition also comprises other Goya works, including early etchings, several later-edition prints from “Los Caprichos” and examples from each of his other major graphic series “Los Desastres de la Guerra,” “Los Proverbios” and “La Tauromaquia.” Collateral work demonstrates the influence of “Los Caprichos,” including a 1920s drawing by Edward Hagedorn and eight etchings by contemporary artist Enrique Chagoya titled “Return to the Caprichos.”      

 Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) was court artist to the Spanish royal family. An unparalleled painter of portraits and religious subject matter, later in life, he began to offer a darker and more cynical view of his contemporaries, even those who supported his work. He is often called the founder of “modern art” because he dared to examine and criticize the social, cultural, religious and courtly world he inhabited.

Enigmatic and controversial, Goya’s “Los Caprichos” etchings were published at a time of social repression and economic crisis in Spain. Influenced by the Enlightenment, 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 as well as an affirmation of his political liberalism and revulsion towards ignorance and intellectual oppression.

 “Los Caprichos” deals with the Spanish inquisition, the abuses of the church and the nobility, witchcraft, child rearing, avarice and the frivolity of young women. The subhuman cast of “Los Caprichos” includes goblins, monks, procuresses, prostitutes, witches, animals acting like human fools and aristocrats.

The museum is at 551 Broadway in Sonoma. During the exhibition, the museum will be open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for individuals, $8 for families and free to members. Admission is free on Sundays. For further information, call 939-7862.