Goya's Masterpieces: Darkness and Social Commentary

Goya's Notable Works: Darkness and Social Commentary

The Third of May 1808

The Third of May 1808 (1814), oil on canvas, is in the Prado Museum. It is a history painting. The composition is organized based on illumination, with a clear dramatic function. It symbolically separates the illuminated area, where convicts wait to be shot, and the penumbra area, where soldiers are aligned. In the illuminated area, one of the condemned seems to absorb all the light, with strong expressive and symbolic meaning. The military platoon forms a closed diagonal.

Goya put all the elements in the service of expression. He reduced the color gamut, enhancing the drama, and intensified the climax, glimpsing through the language of the hands. Made in 1814, it was painted six years after the tragic events. The expressionist technique used is completely free and progressive for Goya. Manet was inspired by this to paint The Execution of Emperor Maximilian.

Goya wanted to commemorate the tragedy lived in Madrid, starting on the morning of May 2nd. More distressing is the composition and the terrible death awaiting, but especially the central figure of the patriot's despair. These two force-charged paintings are to be seen together, as one movement: one is screaming, the other is calm and content in silence.

Saturn Devouring His Son

Saturn Devouring His Son, an oil painting, is in the Museo del Prado. It is a mythological subject, part of Goya's Black Paintings, painted on the walls of the Quinta del Sordo. Saturn appears devouring one of his sons to prevent the prophecy that one of them would dethrone him. Goya represents Saturn with wild eyes, a bestial mouth, and fingers deep in the body of his victim. He emphasizes the darkness of the background and the red of the blood.

This work has no other objective than to express cruelty. Goya uses the iconography of Saturn devouring his children to represent the greed of tyranny, basing it on Quevedo. It could also be engulfed by the fear of absolutist terror, having sworn the constitution in 1812. Saturn symbolizes the loneliness of old age, deafness, and melancholy.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters is a 1799 etching and aquatint in Madrid. There are 80 prints, printed in 1799, with a sale notice in the Gazette of Madrid. In a lengthy paper, the author justifies his work by affirming that painting can be a vehicle to criticize mistakes and human vices, and supports the creative ability of the artist as opposed to slavish imitation.