Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746-1828)
The Moors Spear a Bull in the Open, 1815
Etching and aquatint
7 7/8 x 12 5/16 inches
MSU purchase, funded by the Class of 1923, 74.4

Over half of the the Museum’s collection consists of works on paper, prints, drawings, and photographs. Major artists from Dürer and Rembrandt to Paul Cézanne and Marcel Duchamp to more recently Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, and Takashi Murakami are among those represented. The collection contains nearly 1,000 photographs spanning the nineteenth century to the present. Although American photography is most strongly represented, current collection initiatives aim to develop a comprehensive and encyclopedic survey of the history of photography. Works on paper, which are sensitive to light exposure, regularly rotate in the galleries and exhibitions in the Works on Paper Gallery that highlight specific artists or art historical movements frequently change.