By Bruce Chen

Today is St. George’s Day, or Aragon’s Day in Spain. Last year, we received a gift from Cablescom, Hengtong’s subsidiary in Zaragoza, and learned the stories of San Jorge’s killing the dragon and King Peter I’s defeat of Al-Mustain II (Click here for a review:

 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bsIByifQXy7WqxqignUAvA). Well, how about this year?

今天（4月23日）是西班牙一年一度的“圣乔治日”，又称“阿拉贡日”。去年，我们收到了西班牙子公司Cablescom的节日礼物，并学习了圣乔治屠龙救女、彼得一世打败巴努铁汉王朝的故事（戳此回顾：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bsIByifQXy7WqxqignUAvA）。那么，今年呢？

The theme of this year’s Aragon’s Day: 275th anniversary of Goya’s birth

今年阿拉贡日的主题：纪念戈雅诞辰275周年

Who is Goya?

戈雅是谁？

The Chinese people will not be unfamiliar with “The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid” (or “The Executions”). With sharp contrast of light and dark applied, the painting exudes an expression of daring heroism. In text books, it is always highlighted in the chapters of Romanticism. The painter is the person of today-- Francisco de Goya, Spanish romantic painter and printmaker.

在中国，大家对《1808年5月3日：枪杀马德里保卫者》这幅油画应当不会陌生。这幅运用鲜明的明暗对比、表现了大无畏英雄主义的作品，在教科书中往往出现在西方浪漫主义的章节。其作者正是西班牙画家弗朗西斯科·戈雅。

“The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid” (1808)

《1808年5月3日：枪杀马德里保卫者》

Born on March 30, 1746, Goya is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sometimes called the father of modern art. In his early years, Goya spent some of his youth studying painting in Aragon’s Zaragoza. Yes, exactly where Cablescom is located!

戈雅在欧洲浪漫主义艺术史上具有重要地位，有时被誉为现代艺术之父。他出生于1746年3月30日，年轻时代曾在阿拉贡大区的萨拉戈萨学画。而萨拉戈萨正是Cablescom的所在地。

”The Clothed Maja” (1798)

《着衣的玛哈》，戈雅，1798

Goya served in the Spanish court, where he became completely deaf after suffering from an unknown malady and his style changed somewhat. Consider Beethoven of the same period--maybe great artists are destined for similar suffering? Goya started to care about the wellbeing of the people and the country in a series of his works. In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, only to be defeated 6 years later. Having witnessed the war-torn struggle, Goya painted “The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid”, which showed the true human costs of war.

戈雅曾在宫廷供职，后来身患耳聋的疾病，其创作风格也发生了转变。也许伟大的艺术家命运雷同，同时代的音乐家贝多芬，也是因为耳聋而激发了无限灵感。戈雅的一系列创作开始关注民生国运。1808年，拿破仑入侵西班牙。经过6年战争，西班牙获胜。目睹了生灵涂炭的戈雅，于1814年开始创作了这幅《1808年5月3日：枪杀马德里保卫者》。

In his final years, Goya explored folly, lust, old age, suffering and death with his grotesque imagery, illustrating the absurdity of the times. He then died on April 16, 1828, in Bordeaux, France, as a great Romanticist artist.

晚年，戈雅以怪诞的画面，探究人类的愚昧贪欲、生老病死，诠释时代的荒谬无稽。1828年4月16日，戈雅在法国波尔图去世。

“Two Old Men Eating Soup” (1823)

《喝汤的两个老人》，戈雅，1823

What is Romanticism?

什么是浪漫主义艺术？

The Enlightenment of the 18th century brought along democracy in the political arena. While in cultural arena, it resulted in Romanticism which blossomed in the first half of the 19th century Europe. Romanticist paintings incorporate elements of nature, heroism, humanity and emotions, allowing the painters to be free with their paintings and colors and convey their feelings towards their own lives. 

18世纪的欧洲启蒙运动，除了在政治上引发了民主思潮和法国大革命，在文化领域则引发了浪漫主义，在19世纪前半叶盛行欧洲。浪漫主义绘画表达自然、英雄主义、人性和情感，画家自由使用各种技巧和色彩，表达对生命的参悟。

 “The Raft of the Medusa”, by Theodore Gericault, France, 1819

《梅杜萨之筏》（1819），泰奥多尔·席里柯，法国

“La Liberté guidant le people”, by Eugène Delacroix, France, 1830

《自由引导人民》（1830），欧仁·德拉克罗瓦，法国

The Hay Wain”, by John Constable, GB, 1821

《干草车》（1821），约翰·康斯太勃尔，英国

Among many Romanticists, Goya was the pioneer that broke the 18th century scientific approach to painting from both fronts of skill and connotation.

戈雅是众多浪漫主义艺术家中在思想和技法两个方面打破18世纪传统的先驱。

Why is Goya relevant today?

戈雅在今天有什么意义？

In the second half of the 19th century, Romanticism gave way to Realism, including Impressionism, Symbolism and Cubism. In all these styles, Spanish artists had their brands—not only painters. “From painters to architects, sculptors to playwrights, Spain has been the homeland of many famous artists over the centuries.” 

进入19世纪后半叶，浪漫主义逐步让位于现实主义，包括印象派、象征主义、立体主义，其中西班牙艺术家都占有一席之地。不仅是绘画。“从画家到建筑师、雕刻家、剧作家，多个世纪以来西班牙一直是众多著名艺术家的故乡。” 

The most famous among them is probably Pablo Picasso, Father of the entire Cubist movement. His “Guernica” is recognized a masterpiece of the humanity. Same as Goya’s works, it also paid close attention to the wellbeing of the people. Did Goya, Picasso and others know that many many years later, in the face of a global health Pandemic, their humanistic vision would still be sobering?

其中最为著名的，当属立体主义之父毕加索了，他的《格尔尼卡》是人类艺术的精华。与戈雅的作品一样，它也表达了对民生福祉的关注。戈雅、毕加索……他们是否知道，多年以后疫情肆虐，他们的人文精神依然发人深省？

“Guernica”, by Picasso, Spain, 1937

《格尔尼卡》（1937），毕加索，西班牙

Expressing concerns, even in the face of hard times, about the social wellbeing and people’s livelihood with professionalism and excellent works, and thus motivating the people of today and tomorrow to endeavor for a better future—no matter whether you are an artist or an entrepreneur. Maybe this is one of the many things we could learn from Goya, Picasso and the likes of them.

即使面对艰难时事，也要用自己的专业，以极致的作品，关怀社会民生，激发世人和来者开创更好的未来——无论你是艺术家，还是企业家。或许这就是我们从戈雅们身上所能学到的。

Today, the Aragon’s Day 2021, we celebrate the 275th anniversary of the birth of Francisco de Goya.

今天，2021年的阿拉贡日，我们缅怀戈雅。

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1746—1828

弗朗西斯科·戈雅, 1746—1828

(This article has referred to, among other things, the contribution by Cablescom based on the Museo del Prado's photographic archive and the Museum’s collection archive, the Spanish Arts website: www.spanish-art.org, and “History of Western Culture” by Xu Xin.)

（本文参考了Cablescom基于普拉多博物馆相关材料上的供稿、“西班牙艺术”网站：www.spanish-art.org，徐新主编《西方文化史》等。）