Cuba: Spanish Royalty Inaugurated First Exhibition Of A Goya

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia on Thursday attended the first exhibition of a Francisco Goya's painting at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba.

RELATED:

Cuba: Spanish Royalty Attends the 500th Anniversary of Havana

The piece, which was painted around 1815, will be exposed to the public at the Universal Art Building as part of the tributes to the 500 years of the founding of the Havana city.

"Transporting paintings is very difficult and complex, but the anniversary of the city deserved it," the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba Jorge Fernandez said.

Goya's work "could have an important dialogue with the museum's own collection," Fernandez said and recalled ​​​​​​​the artist's role in the creation of the San Alejandro Art Academy.

The portrait arrived in Cuba from the Prado Museum whose restrictive loan policy has allowed it to keep most of its collection of works of art intact.

Over the last two decades, Goya's self-portrait has been exposed in the Americas three times, one of them was in the United States.​​​​​​​

The Spanish royalty arrived in Cuba on the eve of the celebrations of the five centuries of the foundation of Havana, which was established by the Iberian colonizers on Nov. 16, 1519.

The monarchs, who were received by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, made a courtesy visit to the Communist Party First Secretary Raul Castro.​​​​​​​

Spain's royalty granted the Havana's historian Eusebio Leal with the highest honor of the Crown, the Great Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III.