John Olsen Goya’s Dog
In what he has previously described as a ‘cutting of the umbilical cord,’ the young Australian painter John Olsen travelled to Europe in 1956, setting in motion a cascade of experiences that would significantly shape his world view and trajectory as an artist, none more so than his experiences in Spain.
It was at the Prado Museum that John Olsen first encountered the work of Francisco Goya – most significantly the ‘Disasters of War,’ 1810-20, and ‘Black Paintings,’ 1819-23, series. The former is a series of 82 etchings produced between 1810 and 1820 that bear witness to the atrocities and depravities of war – a quiet but gruesome visual protest, and a narrative of the Spanish struggle for independence against France. Olsen was, of course, experiencing these works within the context of a country still
