The Painting of Hunger

The Prado Museum will host an exhibition from 27 April to 13 September 2026 which analyses the meaningful episode featuring José Aparicio’s painting, The Year of Hunger in Madrid (1818).  This painting went from being considered as one of the most popular and controversial paintings in 19th-century Spain to going unnoticed by the public and art historians today and just an anecdotal depiction of local interest.

During the reign of Fernando VII, the painting was promoted by the official art world, published in the press and turned into a cultural phenomenon that crossed the boundaries of painting to appear in literature, music and theatre and even acquired a kind of “pop” status before that term was coined.  

However, this fame did not last long and both the painting and its artist were gradually excluded from the history of Spanish art and the halls of the Prado Museum, so much so that today it is considered to be a local reference related to the history of Madrid.  

In the period considered to be the prehistory of the Prado Museum, when the Museum was building its collection through the accumulation and dispersion of paintings, Aparicio’s work reigned supreme.  However, the story of the rise and fall of the painting and its artist spans from 1819 to 1927, when it was finally deposited in the History Museum in Madrid.

Contemplation of José Aparicio’s painting alongside those of José de Madrazo and Francisco de Goya facilitates reflection on the polysemy of this concept. Its history invites us to revisit the myth of progress in the arts, the ideas of tradition and modernity and the role of art in nationalist fiction, as well as to reflect on the outdated cultural notion of artistic genius.

Image Credit:

• Detail of The Year of Hunger in Madrid. José Aparicio e Inglada. 1818. Oil on Canvas. Madrid, Prado National Museum