"Gloomy Paintings" by Francisco Goya. "black paintings" by francisco goya Dark paintings by goya city

"Dark Pictures"

So, let's dwell on a certain moment in Goya's biography - 1819. The artist acquires a two-story estate on the banks of the Manzanares River in the outskirts of Madrid. In the same period, he again became seriously ill. The artist struggles with the disease, but deafness more and more seizes him. Therefore, the strange name given by Goya himself to the estate - “The House of the Deaf” - “Quinto del Sordo” - is not at all accidental. In the next three years, Goya painted the walls of his house in the "a secco" technique on re-moistened plaster. It is known for certain that the "Dark Pictures" were written on top of earlier images, which Goya used as a basis.

In 1823, Goya leaves for Bordeaux and leaves his estate to his grandson Mariano - possibly in order to protect property from possible confiscation after restoration in Spain by Ferdinand the Seventh absolute monarchy. For half a century, the murals of the "House of the Deaf" were unknown to the public, with the exception of a few friends of the artist and specialists. In 1874, the artist Salvador Martinez Cubells, at the request of the French banker Frederic Emile d "Erlanger, began to transfer all the paintings from the walls to canvases. It took several years. D" Erlanger wanted to sell the paintings at the World Exhibition in Paris, but this was not destined to happen, and in 1881 he donated the paintings to the Prado Museum in Madrid, where they remain to this day.

Goya himself did not name his "Gloomy Paintings". This was done by his friend, the painter Antonio Brugada, who, after Goya's death in 1828, cataloged the entire cycle. As a result, the paintings received the following names:

First floor of the house.

- "Festival in San Isidro"

- "Coven of Witches"

- "Judith and Holofernes"

- "Saturn devouring his children"

- "Dona Leocadia Zorilla"

- "The Old Man and the Monk" or "Two Old Men".

The second floor of the house.

- "Fantastic Visions" or "Asmodeus"

- "Pilgrimage to the source of San Isidro"

- "Atropos" or "Fate"

- "Duel on clubs"

- "Laughing Women"

- "Reading men"

- "Dog"

- "Two old men eating soup"

The location of the paintings in the house is known from photographs taken by photographer Jean Laurent in 1874. Thanks to these photographs, it is known that the paintings were also framed with stucco, as were the windows and doors in the house. In addition, you can notice the difference in the state of the paintings before transferring them to canvas, see the missing fragments.

There is no actual information about the process of wall painting itself. In this regard, there were even rumors that the paintings were not written by Goya - there was a theory that they were written by Javier, his son, after Goya left for Bordeaux. However, art historians reject this theory - the technique in which the frescoes are made and their style confirms the authorship of the artist.

It is not known what exactly prompted Goya to paint the walls of his house with these scenes. But it is known that the paintings were created in not the best period of the artist's life. His physical condition was unstable, and the state of life in Spain in general was also unstable. The country was Civil War which ended with the restoration of the absolute monarchy. Three years of this war just fall on the period of writing "Dark Canvases". In the paintings, it is easy to trace an analogy with the situations in the social, political and religious spheres of the country of that time. Let's analyze some of the work.

"Saturn devouring his children" - indeed creepy work, at the sight of which a person awakens there is not fear, then in any case, hostility and anxiety. The ancient deity - Saturn - is depicted against a background of coal-black darkness, his figure is broken and as if convulsing, his hands, similar to the plexus of tree branches, hold the body of a child whose head Saturn bites off. Blood stands out in a disturbing red color on the canvas. You can say that Goya wrote this in a depressed state, and perhaps with the thought of a war in Spain - you can compare Saturn with a country that destroys its own children.

In the painting “Judith and Holofernes”, the energy of earthly deed reigns, captured in its instantaneity. Having just jumped off the bed of Holofernes (slightly visible on the right), not yet tidying up her disheveled clothes crumpled by love caresses, the heroine threw a sword over the head of the sleeping Assyrian commander and now cuts it off (here there is the first visual-semantic correspondence between her and Saturn - he began to devour his victim from the head). The falling forward movement of Judith, her sharply brightened face, shoulder, hand with a sword - all this also sticks out of the spatial field of the painting, like the knees, hands and head of Saturn.

"Pilgrimage to San Isidro" echoes an earlier work by Goya, written in 1788 - "Folk Festival on the day of St. Isidore." Both works depict one of the favorite holidays of the inhabitants of Madrid. Every year on May 15, they went to the banks of the Manzanares River to have picnics there, dance and drink healing water from the source, which, according to legend, was found by Saint Isidore. And, if in 1788 the painter presented this scene as a colorful and cheerful national holiday, full of carefree fun, then in the later version from the "House of the Deaf" black tones dominate and an alarming feeling of impending inevitable disaster reigns. A crowd of people huddled close to each other wanders along the dry, uneven ground. Their faces are distorted with terrible grimaces, they express fear, pain, horror, malice and bestial malice.

The same motifs appear in The Witches' Sabbath. The compositional center of the picture is also a faceless, ugly crowd, concentrated around the figure of a goat in a monastic cassock, listening to every word of the messenger of Satan. The faces of people - ugly grimaces that do not even look like people's faces - Goya seemed to want to emphasize how a person can easily lose his human appearance.

In "Duel with Clubs" you can also find a response to the military events taking place next to the artist - two people who are so similar to each other are trying to cripple each other with heavy maces in a brutal blind duel. It is not visible how their feet stand on the ground - they seem to be floating in space, just like the characters in the paintings "Atropos, or Fates" and "Asmodeus".

These paintings are full of mysticism, they seem to depict a completely different, unreal world, it is impossible to even say who the characters in the paintings are people or some fantastic creatures. The plot of the painting "Atropos" - the interpretation of the images of the ancient Greek goddesses of fate - Moir or fate as such Homer, Hesiod, Virgil and other ancient authors. The Moirai were led by Atropa, a ruthless goddess who cut the thread of life with her scissors. Clotho and Lachesis were her associates, but there is also a fourth figure on the canvas, resembling a man with his hands tied - perhaps because he is powerless before the goddesses who determine his fate.

“Dog” is written in lighter colors than other “Dark Canvases”, but it still carries sadness and hopelessness - the picture shows the head of a dog that is drowning either in the waves of the sea or in piles of sand - the exact plot of the picture is inexplicable, it may not have been completed at all, one can only speculate. The muzzle of the dog is directed upwards, sad eyes look somewhere ahead, as if they are looking for salvation. In Laurent's photograph taken in 1874, the painting shows outlines resembling a cliff and bird figures, which the dog may be looking at.

The range of all fourteen canvases is black, brown, sandy, dark shades, there are practically no bright, rich colors in the paintings, except that in the “Duel” a piece of the blue sky stands out, and in “Saturn” bright red blood. Thanks to such tones, the emotions that the plots of the paintings carry in themselves are amplified many times over. It is no coincidence that these canvases are called "Gloomy".

But it must be said that all the names and interpretations of paintings are the result of the activities of other people, other generations. We are not allowed to find out what the artist actually had inside when he painted the walls of his house, for what purpose he did it, to whom he wanted to leave these paintings and what to say with them. One can only draw analogies with the well-known biographical facts about Goya, with the events taking place in the 1820s in Spain. These events could not but be reflected in the work of Goya, attentive and sensitive, worried about changes in the life of his country, noticing human vices and weaknesses, and exposing them, as he did in the Caprichos series.

There is no doubt only that the Murals of the "House of the Deaf" are a unique heritage of Spanish and world art, the paintings are really unusual and outstanding for the period of time when they were painted. We see the “real” Goya in them - after all, the artist painted them on the walls of his house, and not in order to put them up for public judgment or sell them - which means that he could accurately convey his thoughts and states to these canvases.

I mentally hung a sign on the magazine “I went to the gym, I won’t be back soon,” but recent impressions are obtrusively reminding me of myself. To express means to calm down)
In the Prado, I had two halls that were diametrically opposed in their impact. In one I wanted to stay for a long time, but it was impossible due to time constraints. From the other, about which we are talking here, having made a circle, they immediately left - an oppressive atmosphere. This is the hall in which the "black painting" of Francisco de Goya is collected. Even though there was normal lighting and I'm not hypersensitive, individually familiar pictures, put together, leave a depressing impression.

Goya was an excellent portrait painter, he served as a court painter. Among his works are colorful pastoral scenes and sketches for tapestries. A series of "black painting" is not typical for him. In the museum, I bought a thick "Guide to the Prado" in Russian, published by the museum's specialists, with many reproductions and stories about the artist and paintings. About "black painting" further taken from there.

In 1819, Goya buys the "House of the Deaf" - a country house with an estate on the outskirts of Madrid. Shortly after moving to this house, the artist became seriously ill. During his stay in this house, Goya painted the main halls of two floors. X-ray analysis showed that it is possible that the walls of the house were previously painted with landscapes in bright colors. On top of these drawings, Goya applied what is called "black painting". The themes of this cycle are evil, cruelty, ignorance and death. In 1823, Goya, moving to Bordeaux, gave the estate to his grandson. After a succession of owners, the estate was bought in 1873 by Baron Frederic Emil d'Erlanger, who ordered the then restorer of the Prado Museum to transfer the painting from the walls to canvas. And after the exhibition in 1878 in Paris, the paintings were donated to the Prado Museum. That is, what is exhibited in the Prado is a redrawing of what Goya painted on the walls.

Art historians are perplexed... Firstly, the order of arrangement of drawings on the walls of the house has not been preserved, which "complicates their interpretation." Secondly, when transferring to the canvas, inaccuracies were made. And now they are tormented by Goya's puzzles - and what did he mean by that) The venerable artist leaves the life of the capital, moves to the wilderness in the "House of the Deaf" (whose name alone is worth something), gets very sick and draws this ... Art historians probably should consult a psychoanalyst

Some African tribes have this kind of treatment. The shaman assigns the patient to carve human figures from ebony and sell them. And the disease will pass to the buyer. This I found out later. And we brought such figurines from Yemen. Beautiful, attracted the eye, but it was unpleasant for me to look at them. Then she begged her parents to throw them out and took them to the trash. It became cleaner) That's how I left the hall of "black painting")

Prado Museum: Goya and Lucientes, Francisco de -- Pilgrimage to St. Isidore
1820 - 1823, 138.5 cm x 436 cm.

Prado Museum: Goya and Lucientes, Francisco de -- The Witches' Sabbath
1820 - 1823, 140.5 cm x 435.7 cm.

Prado Museum: Goya and Lucientes, Francisco de -- Two old women eating soup
1821 - 1823, 49.3 cm x 83.4 cm, Revestimiento mural, Técnica mixta.

According to art historians, the old woman on the right is awaiting death

Prado Museum: Goya and Lucientes, Francisco de
Saturn devouring his child
1820 - 1823, 143.5 cm x 81.4 cm. Two women and a man 1820 - 1823, 125 cm x 66 cm.

Why Saturn, aka Kronos, ate his children - you can find out here
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD_(%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%BB% D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%8F)
In short - I was afraid of competitors) But I didn’t think about contraception

Prado Museum: Goya and Lucientes, Francisco de -- Reading or Politics
1820 - 1823, 126 cm x 66 cm.
I agree, politics is a dark matter)

I like to end on an optimistic note, we leave the hall for fresh air)

Me and Goya. Monument in front of the Prado. One of the few photos where Goya's head completely fit into the frame - Masha diligently focused on me))

In the main living room "of the lower floor - a rectangular hall elongated from the entrance into the depths - there were seven stylistically homogeneous compositions grouped into an integral ensemble. One (Iriarte called it, Two old women eating from a common dish") on the wall of the hall with an entrance door in the form of a desudeport (from the French dessus de porte, literally “above the door”) - a decorative composition located above the door. Six others filled all the piers: on the wall opposite the entrance there were vertical compositions separated by a window, Saturn devouring his children "(to the left of the window) and Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes" (to the right); on the left longitudinal wall, framed by two windows or two fireplaces, there is a frieze, the Sabbat of Witches, "and on the opposite, on the right wall, framed by two fireplaces or wardrobes, the frieze Pilgrimage to St. Isidore", an image of a folk festival held annually in Madrid on May 15; finally, on the wall at the entrance to the right of the door (next to the Sabbath "and against Saturn") - again a vertical painting, Leocadia", in other words, a portrait image of Leocadia Weiss, who became the mistress of the House of the Deaf, and on the left (next to, Pilgrimage" and against, Judith")-also vertical painting, Two old men". In a similar hall on the upper floor there were eight piers suitable for painting - here the longitudinal walls were divided in half by window and fireplace openings. However, Goya painted only seven of them. In the depths of the hall, on the end wall to the left and right of the window, there were vertical panels stylistically related to the painting of the lower floor, "Politicians" and "Two Laughing Women"; on the left longitudinal wall - "Bull Shepherds" and "Atropos", and on the right - "Walk of the Inquisition" and "Asmodeus". These four horizontal compositions are already very different stylistically from the first two. The seventh painting (again vertical) is different from them - mysterious, Dog "to the right of front door. Unlike the lower cycle, the upper one remained unfinished and did not form into a single ensemble.

Saturn devouring his children. 1820-1823

Mixed media, canvas. Transferred from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 143.5 - 81.4 cm.

In Saturn, the background of the painting is a coal-black cosmic hole, in the depths of which the figure of an ancient deity, the personification of the all-devouring element of Time, shot up as a thickening cloud of volcanic ash. Its outlines, deliberately scattered in space, are brought together by a spasm of violently writhing movement. It is as if it pushes the surrounding darkness, breaks the boundaries of its spatial cell in order to escape into the space of the hall. In it, inorganic and organic, to human and primitive-human beginning. Its knotty forms resemble a strange interweaving of thick tree branches; its angular, splayed and, as it were, jointed members evoke in our minds the image of a giant tarantula that instantly seized its prey, and the bulging eyes of Saturn are like the eyes of a fish.

Judith cutting off the head of Holofernes. 1820-1823.

Mixed media, canvas. Moved from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 146-84 cm.

Presented by Baron Émile d "Erlanger, 1881

"Judith" arises from a darkness of a different kind - not cosmic, but rather earthly or, more precisely, "underground", basement", illuminated by an almost annoying combination of frozen and cold moonlight penetrating here from nowhere and the slightly warm flickering of a candle that she hides in the energy of earthly deeds captured in its instantaneity reigns here. now he will cut it off (here the first visual-semantic correspondence of her and Saturn arises - he began to devour his victim from the head). knees, hands and head of Saturn.

Witches' Sabbath. 1820-1823

Dimensions: 140.5-435.7 cm.

Presented by Baron Émile d "Erlanger, 1881

Originally, the painting, the Sabbath, depicting a gathering of witches who en masse worship the Devil-Goat, listen to his sermons and present him with a young neophyte, was not yet cut off at the edges and stretched almost six meters instead of the current four and a little. and an extended dark space, where the stormy night sky interfered with the earth's firmament, and on the edge of them hung a giant ellipsoid of sticky and swarming bodies, whose movements unbalanced it and made it spin like a galaxy, tangentially capturing also the real space of the hall.

Pilgrimage to St. Isidore. 1820-1823

Dimensions: 127-266 cm.

Donated in 1881

This mural depicts a celebration that was officially celebrated in Madrid on May 15 on the day of St. Isidore, the plowman, the patron saint of the city. This is no longer an extreme triumph of the elements and forces of the earth, as in the previous mural, but the real life of the people of Madrid, the scene of morals "as a feat located nearby, Judith" is not a cosmogonic myth, but a real, albeit sacralized story. This is a people who, at sunset or before a storm, took off from their place and set off on their way. Only a blind man with a powerful, almost square torso leads them. Only ahead (on the opposite wall of the hall, before the removal of the murals) awaits him the devilry of a witch's festival.

Leocadia.1820-1823

Mixed media, canvas. Transferred from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 145.7-129.4 cm.

Donated in 1881

Two old men (old women?) Eating from the same dish. 1820-1823.

Mixed media, canvas. Translated from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 49.3-83.4 cm.

Donated in 1881

Two monks (old men). 1820-1823

Mixed media, canvas. Transferred from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 142.5-65.6 cm.

Donated in 1881

Politicians. 1821-1823

Mixed media, canvas. Translated from wall covering.

Dimensions: 126-66 cm.

Donated in 1881

Walk of the Inquisition. 1821-1823.

Mixed media, canvas. Translated from wall cladding.

Dimensions: 127-266 cm.

Donated in 1881

St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts

Faculty of World Culture

Department of Museology and cultural heritage

Group 24/3-402

Essay on the topic: "Dark Pictures" by Francisco Goya

Completed by: Lobyzaeva A.S.

Checked by: candidate of philosophical sciences,

Associate Professor Mukhin A.S.

St. Petersburg

Introduction

Part 1. Biography

Part 2. "Dark Pictures"

Conclusion

Introduction

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes is the name of a person who has long attracted and still attracts the attention of writers, directors, art historians, and artists. Goya - a painter with a difficult fate and original talent - is studied and comprehended by many to this day, they are dedicated to him art books and films, scientific research, but Goya's extraordinary, "magical" worldview, reflected in his work, still remains an unsolved mystery. And it will remain so forever, because neither a thousand words of books, nor a thousand frames of films will make it possible to absolutely know the creative world of the artist, multifaceted and unique.

One of the most mysterious aspects of this world is the "Dark Pictures" (sometimes the name of the series is literally translated as "Black Pictures"), which were written by Goya in 1820-1823. These are unusual paintings - they were frescoes on the walls of Goya's house, in which he lived for several years. At that time, Goya suffered a serious illness and suffered from deafness, which prevented the artist from living fully - and therefore his house was called "Quinto del Sordo", which translates from Spanish as "The House of the Deaf". This series of paintings, transferred to canvas after Goya's death, was unknown to his contemporaries, with the exception of a few people, and became world famous many years later as one of the most unusual and mysterious series of paintings in Spanish art.

"Gloomy Pictures" and is dedicated to this work, also partially covering the biography of the artist - after all creative way always closely connected with the path of life.

Part 1. Biography

March 1746 in the Aragonese province, in the small village of Fuendetodos, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born. Francisco became younger son in the family of a master gilder, quite famous and revered, and the daughter of an impoverished hidalgo. The family, therefore, had an average income, but the sons received a not very high-quality school education. One way or another, all three sons then found a worthy occupation for themselves - the eldest became a priest, the middle one followed in the footsteps of his father, and the youngest became an artist who would become famous all over the world. Francisco, at the age of thirteen, was sent to study in the workshop of the artist José Lui San y Martinez when the family moved to Zaragoza. During the three years of study, young Goya mostly copied engravings and casts, but, as he himself later admits this, he did not get full pleasure and the result from such a process - he wanted to create for real, create something of his own.

So in 1763 Goya moved to Madrid to enter the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He fails, but still remains in Madrid, getting acquainted with the works of court artists and developing his skills. Then Goya makes a trip to Italy, on his return from which he receives his first serious major order - the chapter of the church of Nuestra Senora Del Pilar in 1771 entrusts him with painting the dome of one of the chapels of the basilica. This work causes a lot of rave reviews, Goya receives other orders, such as painting the oratorio of the Sobradiel Palace.

In 1773, Goya married Joseta Bayeu, the sister of the influential court painter Francisco Bayeu, this marriage also played a role in Goya's approval in the artistic environment of that time. They lived with Joseta until her death in 182, they had several children, but only one son, Javier, survived to adulthood. Goya finally settled in Madrid and began working in the workshop of his newly-made relative Francisco Bayeu, professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

Goya's first court order was cardboard tapestries for the dining room of the future King Charles 4 in the Escorial Palace. Later, Goya received other orders for sketches of tapestries for the royal family. He gets closer and closer to the royal court, and soon asks for a position as a court painter - but he is refused. This was facilitated by his brother-in-law Bayeu, who did not want to share the place of the first court artist. Nevertheless, Goya is gaining popularity, many courtiers begin to order their portraits from him, and soon Goya gains a reputation as a wonderful portrait painter. Some of his most famous works of this period are the portrait of the Count of Floridablanca (1783), the portrait of the Marquise de Pontes (1786).

In 1789 Charles became the new king of Spain. IV<#"justify">- "Two old men eating soup"

It is not known what exactly prompted Goya to paint the walls of his house with these scenes. But it is known that the paintings were created in not the best period of the artist's life. His physical condition was unstable, and the state of life in Spain in general was also unstable. There was a civil war in the country, which ended with the restoration of the absolute monarchy. Three years of this war just fall on the period of writing "Dark Canvases". In the paintings, it is easy to trace an analogy with the situations in the social, political and religious spheres of the country of that time. Let's analyze some of the work.

“Saturn Devouring His Children” is a truly terrible work, at the sight of which a person awakens not with fear, but in any case, hostility and anxiety. The ancient deity - Saturn - is depicted against a background of coal-black darkness, his figure is broken and as if convulsing, his hands, similar to the plexus of tree branches, hold the body of a child whose head Saturn bites off. Blood stands out in a disturbing red color on the canvas. You can say that Goya wrote this in a depressed state, and perhaps with the thought of a war in Spain - you can compare Saturn with a country that destroys its own children.

painting mystical goya artist

The canvases in the "House of the Deaf" are an unusual phenomenon in Spanish painting, attracting the interest of many to this day. On the one hand, painted in the vein of the current of romanticism that dominated the period of the artist’s life, on the other hand, they differ from other canvases in their content, drama, emotionality, and technique.

Francisco Goya is truly great spanish artist, and, having studied all his work, we can say with confidence how full and multifaceted his creative genius was. The contrast of these "Dark Canvases" with his court painting is striking - one and the same person created realistic portraits made in bright colors, colorful, ceremonial, painted wonderful landscapes and paintings on historical themes, and at the same time he created works that immerse the viewer in an amazing, phantasmagoric world, the world of night and dark magic, a world unlike the real one, the world that the artist's imagination created. Sorcerers, witches, animals in human clothes, demonic creatures, decrepit ugly old people - no one dared to write what Goya wrote. These canvases help to comprehend the mysterious inner world of the artist, the path to the knowledge of which has been trying to find for many years.

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A number of iconic works of the famous Spaniard.

Goya

Francisco de Goya is a famous Spanish painter and engraver. He acquired his initial fame as a creator of beautiful tapestries, but the true fame came to him already as a court painter of the Spanish crown. The uniqueness of Goya's works is given by a creative approach and a bold use of colors. The master's style inspired many imitators and had a major impact on the art world.

Umbrella (1777)

This work is part of a series of 63 works that the artist created at the beginning of his career. It is believed that the work on this cycle helped the master to study the ways of human interaction, which later turned out to be important in the creation of later masterpieces. "Umbrella" combines the motives of French and Spanish fashion.

Dog (1823)

The group of famous "Black Paintings" created by Francisco in the later stages of his work also includes the image of a dog, which is easy to lose in the artistic space of the picture. Usually the work is interpreted as a symbol of a person's struggle with troubles and evil forces.

Mahi (1797–1805)

Both works (“Maja Nude” and “Maja Clothed”) are located side by side in the same room of the Prado Museum (Madrid). Among the artists who created paintings inspired by these works of Goya, Ignacio Zuloaga and Edouard Manet should be noted. To this day, it is not known who served as the model for main character paintings, but traditionally the 13th Duchess of Alba is called the source of inspiration for the artist.

On the pedestal of the monument to the artist, installed in front of the Prado Museum, there is a sculptural image based on the painting "Nude Maja".

Great Goat (1821–1823)

The "Black Painting" is often regarded by art historians as a satire on the subject of superstition and depicts Satan speaking to a group of witches.

Charles IV and his family (1801)

The portrait shows the ostentatiously dressed King of Spain and his family. It should be noted that the unwillingness of the artist to flatter and lie led to the fact that Goya, according to modern researchers, showed the corrupt nature of their power in the portrait of the monarch and his family. Probably, the person barely visible on the left is the author of the work.

Disasters of war (1810–1820)

This series of 82 prints is one of the most significant works Goya. Art historians divide the series into three parts:

The first 47 engravings show the horrors of war.
The second 18 works depict the consequences of the famine.
The last 17 reflect the disappointment associated with the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy.

This series is a phenomenal visualization author's position, which contains indignation and bold political statements.

Disasters of war. 39 work from the series.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (1799)

This composition is also part of the Caprichos series, consisting of 80 works. Sleeping among the tools, the artist is surrounded by monsters that symbolize ignorance and other vices of society.

Saturn Devouring a Son (1819–1823)

This masterpiece is based on the Roman myth, according to which the titan Saturn ate his children, as he was predicted to die at the hands of one of his sons. However, the prophecy was destined to come true.
“Saturn devouring his son” is an unsettling portrait, part of a series of “black paintings”.

Third of May 1808 (1814)

On May 2, 1808, the people of Madrid rebelled against the French occupiers. Goya depicts this scene in the painting The Third of May 1808. In the center of the canvas is a retaliatory strike by French troops, as a result of which hundreds of Spaniards were shot. Revolutionary in style and level of symbolism, the painting inspired Pablo Picasso to create the famous Guernica.

Burial of a sardine (circa 1808–1814)

Accademia San Fernando, Madrid Goya presents the folk carnival as a demonic feast. Under the pressure of the Inquisition, the artist was forced to change the original version of the painting and replace the inscription on the gonfalon mortus (died) with the grimace of the mask. The seething joy and distorted joy of the unbridled crowd are a grotesque allegory for the existing social order. In his work, Goya rebels against the order established by the Inquisition and demonstrates the impotence of his contemporaries in front of them.

Portrait of Francisco Baie (1795)

After 1794 Goya creates a number of portraits from nature. Thanks to the sharp observation and precise technique of the artist, his works are distinguished by deep psychologism and insight into inner world person. Here is a portrait of Goya's court painter and brother-in-law, Francisco Baye (1734-1795), shortly before his death. A tired, slightly irritated facial expression and a casually buttoned frock coat characterize the personality of the model. At the same time, the frozen posture, the characteristic bend of the hand, and the attentive gaze emphasize the inner dignity of the person being portrayed.

Court of the Inquisition (circa 1800)

Goya repeatedly addressed the topic of the court of the Inquisition, emphasizing the cruelty of the ceremony and tragic fate his victims, who were put on the caps of heretics. Lighting effects and the manner of overlaying colors help depict the trial, which is led by obscurantists. The faces of the judges - monks and priests - are distorted by the grimaces of death, and their figures merge into a single amorphous mass.

Blind Man's Bluff (1791)

scenes Everyday life and folk entertainment, which are characterized by rich colors and ease of composition, showed new trends in the artist's work. Goya reveals the real world in all its infinite diversity. The attractiveness of this sketch for a tapestry designed to decorate an office in the Escorial Palace is manifested in bright colors, in the ease of movement of the characters. For Goya, the depiction of figures in a gentle, watercolor color is typical, the figures of the characters seem to dissolve in a thin haze.

Famous paintings by Francisco Goya updated: January 21, 2018 by: Gleb