La Cabeza de Goya by Bernardí Roig

In 2020, Bernardí Roig created 55 drawings inspired by Goya’s lost head, reflecting on isolation and mortality during COVID-19.

During the global COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, while confined to his home in Mallorca, Spain, Bernardí Roig (b. 1965) embarked on a creative journey, producing 55 drawings —one each day. These drawings were inspired by the lost, severed head of Francisco José de Goya (1746–1828), the renowned Spanish artist celebrated for his lavish portraits of nobility and poignant depictions of social and political unrest in Spain.

Goya’s life was marked by solitude and exile, culminating in his burial without his head, discovered decades later during a reinterment process in Madrid. Roig’s drawings reflect on this grotesque and mysterious dismemberment, offering meditations on the uncertainties of isolation and mortality experienced during the pandemic.

Duncan Phillips, founder of the Phillips Collection, shared Roig’s admiration for Goya’s work. In 1936, Phillips acquired Goya’s Repentant St. Peter (c. 1820-24), considering it a bridge between past and contemporary art. Today, Roig’s drawings evoke the essence of a bygone era while inviting viewers to explore and find solace in shared human experiences.