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THURSDAY

At the turn of the 19th century, Spaniard Francisco Goya openly and dramatically questioned the glory of war. In his masterpiece, the iconic The Third of May, 1808, a line of interchangeable French soldiers aim their rifles, ready to execute a group of citizens in reprisal for the previous day’s uprising in Madrid (also painted by Goya). Goya’s raw style beautifully captures the atrocity. A direct line can be traced from this horrific painting through Picasso’s Guernica to the recent Vietnam war photography of Eddie Adams and Nick Ut. They all chronicle the monsters loosed during “the sleep of reason,” famously alluded to in Los Caprichos, Goya’s first set of prints. Tonight, George Washington University lecturer Christopher Wilson takes you on a tour through Goya’s work—including the artist’s most “nightmarish and violent images”—in the slide-illustrated lecture “Goya: Painter of Terrible Splendor” at 8 p.m. at the National Museum of American History’s Carmichael Auditorium, 14th and Constitution Avenue NW. $15. For reservations call (202) 357-3030. (Mark W. Sullivan)