logo
episode-header-image
May 2012
27m 30s

Goya

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Diana Athill joins Matthew Parris to explore the life of the Spanish painter, Francisco de Goya, who has been called the last old masters and the first of the moderns.

The literary editor and memoirist praises Goya for bearing witness truthfully to the horrors of war, for the tenderness of his observations as a painter, his unorthodox style and his desire to keep learning, even in old age.

We know more about Goya thanks to his letters, which have been edited by Dr Sarah Symmons, who also contributes to this programme. They reveal a passionate and playful man, who was fascinated by people and every incarnation of human life and behaviour - including royalty, prostitutes and the elderly. He also wrote openly about professional humiliation and shared intimate details about his private life.

Diana Athill helped establish the publishing company Andre Deutsch, worked with some of the 20th century's greatest writers in her long career, and her six volumes of memoirs include Somewhere Towards the End, an examination of what it means to be old.

Reader Javier Marzan.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Up next
Jun 30
Sir Seretse Khama, first president of Botswana
Seretse Khama was born in 1921 in Bechuanaland when it was still a British Protectorate. In 1966 he became Botswana's first president. In between he married a white Londoner, Ruth Williamson, was exiled by the British, and made to renounce his interest in succeeding as head of th ... Show More
27m 43s
Jun 23
Emily Williamson, co-founder of the RSPB
For over a hundred years no one thought too much about the origins of the RSPB, but among its founders was a woman in Didsbury opposed to the use of feathers in fashionable hats. Emily Williamson was outraged by the widespread slaughter of egrets and the crested grebe. She had tr ... Show More
27m 32s
Jun 16
Tina Turner
Rock Icon Tina Turner proposed by the actress and author Rebecca Humphries. Tina Turner began life as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, joining Ike Turner's band in St Louis at the age of 17. Her presence, her performances and her voice captivated audiences, but this is rea ... Show More
27m 43s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
Amrita Sher-Gil | Bride's Toilet
Amrita Sher-Gil, born in 1913 to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian-Jewish opera singer, was a trailblazing artist who blended European and Indian influences. After studying art in Paris and achieving early success at the Grand Salon, she returned to India in 1934. Though initiall ... Show More
10m 38s
Aug 2019
Introducing
FINDING VAN GOGH In search of the legendary Portrait of Dr Gachet The last great portrait by Vincent van Gogh disappeared from the public eye three decades ago. It was sold at auction in New York in 1990 – at what was then the highest price ever paid for a painting. The podcast s ... Show More
2m 7s
May 2024
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith grew up in north west London and studied English at Cambridge University. After a publisher’s bidding war when she was just 21, her debut novel White Teeth became a huge critical and commercial hit on publication in 2000 and won several awards including the Orange Pri ... Show More
43m 44s
Feb 2022
The Book of Baraka
“When I become mayor, we become mayor.” Ras Baraka’s famous words speak to exactly who he is as a leader - a fiercely loyal member of his community. In this innovative and ground-breaking Audible Original, hear how Baraka - the mayor of Newark, New Jersey - grew from spoken-word ... Show More
1h 43m
Sep 2023
Leïla Slimani
French Moroccan author Leïla Slimani won critical acclaim and a reputation as an author of bold & brutal fiction with her first two novels. Adele is about a bourgeoise Parisian wife and mother who lives a sexually promiscuous secret life. In Lullaby, a nanny kills the children sh ... Show More
43m 49s
Apr 2023
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood talks to John Wilson about the formative influences and experiences that shaped her writing. One of the world’s bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, Atwood has published over 60 books including novels, short stories, children’s fiction, non-fiction and po ... Show More
43m 42s
Sep 2020
[Female gaze] Jodi Bieber, the South African photographer and World Press Photo of The Year winner discusses life, imagery and identity
Welcome to this 12th episode of the new Dior Talks series ‘The Female Gaze’. With the term developed in response to the writings of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, this podcast series will explore how the work of the female photographers and creatives collaborating with Dior ... Show More
31 m