Rendezvous with cinema: "Velázquez, power and art".

This year's second session of our virtual club Cita con el cine is dedicated to the documentary Velázquez, el poder y el arte, by José Manuel Gómez Vidal.

Premiered at the Valladolid International Film Week (Seminci) in 2022, this documentary delves into the lesser-known side of the brilliant Spanish painter Diego de Velázquez.

After the successful documentary Murillo, el último viaje, Gómez Vidal, a great connoisseur of the Spanish Golden Age, analyses in this interesting film the career and rise of the author of some of the best works in the history of art and his special relationship with power.

Synopsis: One of the constants in Velázquez's life was the search for the favour of power: first in his native Seville, frequenting the cenacles of power, and later at the Court, where in the service of King Philip IV he learned that the painter's glory depended on his contact with the powerful. But why this obsession with becoming a nobleman? Was his painting and end or an instrument? And above all: why did he conceal his personal life?

The activity is moderated by staff from the Cervantes Institute and includes the participation of specialists linked to the making of the film (filmmakers, scriptwriters…). Enjoy cinema in Spanish!