Goya Paintings at Hotel Haya

Spanish printmaker and artist Francisco Goya was one of the most important art luminaries of the late 1700s and early 1800s. His works are enshrined in top museums worldwide—Madrid’s Prado, the Louvre in Paris, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg—but visitors to Tampa can see something special, no museum required: four vibrant tiles, handpainted with reproductions of Goya’s work. These intricate works of art were nearly lost, covered for decades.

In preparation for the 2020 opening of Hotel Haya in Tampa’s historic Ybor City, the construction team behind the 178-room boutique hotel—named for Ignacio Haya, a founder of Ybor City and the area’s first cigar factory—knew they wanted to preserve as much of the location’s history as possible. While some elements of the construction are new, the property also includes the 1890 Las Novedades building that was once home to the city’s first Spanish restaurant. During renovations, the construction team discovered treasures behind the walls: Original brick adorned with four intricately handpainted reproductions of Goya paintings on tile. One depicts a family celebrating a grape harvest; another, a group dancing on the banks of the Manzanares River. The artist who painted the tiles remains unknown, but hotel leadership speculates that the restaurant that formerly occupied the Las Novedades building commissioned them. 

Now meticulously restored, the tiles are displayed alongside a rotating installation of contemporary works by artists in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Museum and Graphicstudio, both part of the University of South Florida. This visually intriguing juxtaposition of old and new is a feast for the eyes.