J-term students learn Spanish language and history through three of the country’s most famous artists

by Travis McDaniel ’23

There is a painting in Associate Professor of Modern Languages María José Bordera-Amérigo’s home depicting a marina in Alicante, Spain. Alicante, her hometown, is four hours south of Madrid, which houses one of country’s most important art museums and appears regularly in Bordera-Amérigo’s J-term class, Spain in the Eyes of Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso.

The new class explores the connection between artistic masterpieces of Spanish artists Diego de Velasquez, Francisco de Goya, and Pablo Picasso and their perspectives of historic Spain as illustrated through their work. Despite the emphasis on art, Bordera-Amérigo insists that this 300-level course is a Spanish course—not a class on art history. 

“While we may make reference to technique, we are not making it our first goal,” Bordera-Amérigo said. “The main goal for us is to treat each of the pieces that we may discuss as texts … We are trying to discover and uncover how the three artists felt about Spain and the kings, queens, and nobility they worked for.”

Becca Shaw ’23 (Nursing major, Spanish minor) is taking the course to prepare herself for a future career in health care.

“Being able to speak Spanish and reach a lot of different types of patients is something that other people can’t do and a lot more health care providers should be able to do,” she said.

Shaw also recalls Bordera-Amérigo describing the class to her as a “virtual study abroad.” Although there were plans to make a class trip to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., pandemic restrictions cut travel plans short and forced the first week of class to be held virtually. However, neither teacher nor students missed a beat, since many of the class materials are available in an online version of the Museo Nacional del Prado, a national art museum in Madrid.

“We’ve looked at a lot of works from Velázquez,” Shaw said. “It was cool seeing the similarities between each piece of art and how he painted different social classes. During that time, Spain had a very rigid social pyramid, so we’re looking at noble classes versus people who barely have anything and how he reflects that in his art.”

Bordera-Amérigo contends the course is meant to be less about the work of the painters and more about what colored the perspectives through which they saw, and painted, the world.

“This course is structured to help students understand that everybody has a different perspective,” Bordera-Amérigo said. “There is a lot of subjectivity, but at the same time we need to understand the conflicts surrounding the work of art because undeniably all three artists in this course were affected significantly by the time in which they lived.”

Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso may have been alive in different centuries, but each lived in a distinctly formative era of Spanish history. Their works depict civil wars, foreign invasions, constitutional establishments, and cultural upheaval in similar yet singular ways.

“I’m a huge fan of all three artists,” Bordera-Amérigo said. “It’s amazing how people that didn’t even know each other are able to transcend the barrier of time and find a way to have a conversation through us, the observers.”

As in-person classes commence, Bordera-Amérigo and her students will explore the conversation these pieces provoke and the blueprint these artists have shown in using art and media to reflect current events. She even envisions this class becoming an opportunity for students to travel to the real Museo Nacional del Prado and see the artwork up close.

“I would love for that opportunity to happen,” she chuckled. “If and when we are able to travel again.”

 

 

Travis McDaniel ’23 is a third-year RMC student from Graham, North Carolina. He is a Communication Studies major with a minor in Journalism and plays wide receiver for Randolph-Macon’s football team.