Introduction
From October 10, 2021 until January 23, 2022, the Fondation Beyeler premieres La Quinta del Sordo, a new work by Philippe Parreno, focusing on Goya’s long-destroyed country house and its legendary wall paintings, the Pinturas negras (Black Paintings). The film is presented in conjunction with the Fondation Beyeler’s Goya exhibition, one of the most important exhibitions ever devoted to Francisco de Goya, bringing together over 70 paintings and 100 drawings and prints from institutional and private collections around the world.
"La Quinta del Sordo" (House of the Deaf), situated on the outskirts of Madrid, was the home of Francisco de Goya in the years leading up to his exile. In two rooms of the country house, which Goya renovated and expanded, the artist created a series of 14 wall paintings in oil, known as the Black Paintings because of their dark colors, in which the main themes of his work found their last critical expression, in monumental form. Created between 1819 and 1824, the murals were only discovered after Goya’s death. Having acquired the house in 1873, Baron Émile d’Erlanger transferred the paintings to canvas and later donated them to the Spanish state. Sent to the the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, these visionary masterpieces have been on view since 1889.
In his new science-fictional film Philippe Parreno reproduces the relationship between the individual paintings and the house they were originally a part of. Creating a diegetic space, Parreno allows the audience to travel back in time and experience the Pinturas negrasin their original setting. When filming at the Prado, the artist was able to capture the paintings up-close in incredible detail, creating a unique level of proximity and intimacy between the paintings and the viewer, with every detail and every brushstroke becoming visible. For the filming Parreno recreated a light setting that mimics the candle light and open fireplace, offering a light setting similar to how the paintings would have been seen at the time.
La Quinta del Sordo is set to an imaginary soundscape, for which the artist rebuilt the house and garden in 3D, creating an acoustic model of the architecture. The space becomes alive through the sounds of creaky floorboards, the crackling of the fireplace, the wind rustling through the trees outside, or the chiming of local church bells in the distance. As the time of day changes so does the sound and light. Granular sound synthesis allows for the sound to constantly change and transform, creating all-encompassing acoustics that are never the same.
La Quinta del Sordo has been commissioned by the Fondation Beyeler with the generous support of the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, where the film was shot in November 2020. The project is supported by The Adonyeva Foundation, Jan Fischer, Pamela and Richard Kramlich, Luma Foundation, Michael Ringier, Esther Schipper, and Gladstone Gallery.