40 years after his death, Spain’s infamous dictator Franco still looms over both politics and art

In the latest political battle over Spain's historical imagery, the mayor of Madrid announced this week that symbols of former dictator Francisco Franco would be removed from public display.

The backlash against "Generalissimo" Francisco Franco started soon after the leader’s death in 1975. But Madrid-based artist Eugenio Merino says that even 40 years after the leader’s death, Franco still looms large in Spanish politics.

In 2007, a new law mandated that symbols of Franco be removed. But Merino says Spain’s right-wing politicians have dragged their feet in implementing the law.

Franco still finds support in some circles — for example in an organization called the National Francisco Franco Foundation. “They defend the ideology of Franco,” says Merino. “And they have a certain power here, because they are related to certain politicians of the right wing.”

In two recent satirical artworks, Merino ran up against the foundation’s influence. The first, “Always Franco,” wryly depicted the dictator in a refrigerator. “It was a symbol of how his presence is still in our society,” the artist says.

The foundation sued him.

Merino protested by creating a second Franco sculpture, this one portraying the dictator on a punching bag.

The foundation sued him again.

Though the artist won both cases, he’s become much more aware of the continued support Franco enjoys among some members of Spain’s right-wing.

Merino says it doesn’t bother him that it’s still possible to find Franco symbols, like street signs and eagle insignia, that reference his regime.

“For me the problem is not what I see, but what I perceive in the people,” he says. “The problem is that people are defending them."