Documento nº… (Document No. …)

In 1974, Juan Genovés began his hyperrealistic series of figures on white backgrounds, including Document No. ... In these works, images of violence, fear and flight reach their most intense expression. Genovés turns the image into a visual document of condemnation.
The scene conveys the imminence of a summary trial, an interrogation or even an execution. At the height of the Franco dictatorship, it reflects repressive procedures, institutional violence and human rights violations. The subject, alone with his hands bound, embodies the defenceless citizen in the face of the state machinery. His downcast gaze and resigned attitude reinforce the feeling of vulnerability and submission. Genovés wanted his paintings to function as visual evidence, almost
like journalistic photos, documenting repression and turning his work into a testimony and record of an era marked by the struggle for freedom.

María Teresa López Flores