Territorios sentimentales. Arte e identidad

Abstract

Carmen Pena López, Territorios sentimentales. Arte e identidad, Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 2012, ISBN 978-84-9940-272-7. The book analyzes the relationship between art and identity in Spain from the era of Goya to the end of the postwar period, examining how sentiment, patriotism, and political sensibility articulate Spanish artistic production across different historical stages. The author, professor of Art Theory and History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, studies figures such as El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Sorolla, and the members of the El Paso group, as well as icons like the Lady of Elche, to reveal the tension between the universal and the autochthonous. The reviewer highlights the value of this integral perspective that explains artworks through ideology and society, underscoring the essential nature of the book for understanding the dialectic between modernity, national identity, and the avant-garde in Spanish art.