Are you inspired by a series of murals found in the old home of the famous Spanish artist, Francisco De Goya? If yes, you would like to know more about this 19th-century Spanish artist, right? His drawings, paintings, and engravings expressed the social-political upheavals of contemporary society.
Furthermore, his bizarre and astonishing murals influenced the 19th and 20th-century artists. Presently, his murals are known as Dark Paintings. The themes of his artworks were death, aging, war, and conflict. Whatever he portrayed absolutely matched the themes. His murals and engravings were unparalleled at that time.
However, his non-royal dark paintings came to the limelight after his death. After his death, his precious dark paintings were discovered in his former Spanish home. Some of the dark paintings look alive. These are regarded as his famous artwork.
Let’s delve into the following article to know about his master artworks and get the inspiration to create such masterpieces.
Who was Francisco Goya?
The legendary Spanish artist Francisco Goya was born on March 30, 1746, in Fuendetodos, Spain. When he was merely 14 years old, he studied art in Spain and Italy. After learning brilliance in painting, he became a public painter in the city of Zaragoza. He became an artist for the Spanish Royal Court, where he painted the murals of Spanish dignitaries.
Significantly, his paintings showcased gruesome famine, poverty, and cruelty. This shows how deeply he was affected due to the war between Spain and France. He found that two pivotal powers had been fighting and mankind was suffering without any cause.
Despite his successful years of career as a court painter, his last years of life were difficult ones. He came to Paris for his medical treatment in the year 1824. Thereafter, he started to live a secluded life in Bordeaux. Though he was suffering from debility and deafness, he did not leave doing paintings. During his last years of life, he created 14 murals which are still famous and inspire painters.
Two Old Men (or Two Monks)
Two Old Men, better known as Two Monks, was Francisco Goya’s dark painting. In this painting, he depicted a hideous figure. That horrible figure was of an animal-like head who had a wife-mouth. He was shouting into the ear of a man. That man was an old bearded man. In this painting, the astonishing thing was that the old bearded man did not lose his patience and self-control due to the loud shout of that animal-like head. He was leaning on a shepherd’s crook. He was in religious attire. Besides this, he was showcasing his meditative and peaceful expressions. In contrast to the peaceful man, the wide-mouthed figure was looking like a demon in that image.
Atropos
Atropos (or The Fates) painting of Francisco Goya was inspired by Greek mythology’s three sisters. These three sisters are Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. They are known as the fate deciders on this earth. But in the artist’s painting, they did not look like the Greek mythology fate figures. In contrast to this, their appearance was monstrous. They were looking like a monstrous appearance. This demonstrated the thoughts of the artist Francisco Goya toward the cruel fate. By creating this dark picture, the Spanish artist tried to express his feelings about the cruel fate. He wanted to say that all deeds are done by fate and human beings are only the pawns of this game. Goya painted this picture when he was suffering due to his debility and old age.
The Dog
The Dog or The Drowning Dog is the most exquisite creation of the Spanish artist, Francisco Goya. in this painting, only the small head of the dog was visible. Otherwise, the rest of the picture was hidden in the colors of the painting. By drawing such a picture of the dog, the artist tried to leave the decision to viewers. The viewers could think that the dog had fallen into a quicksand. Alternatively, they could think that the dog’s body was cut off. An author Fred Licht proposed this concept behind the dark image of Goya in his famous book Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art. A few critics opined that The Dog or The Drowning Dog is a symbol of Death. Some other critics opined that the artist tried to symbolize hopelessness in the absence of God.
Witches Sabbath
Witches Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) was another significant creation of Francisco Goya. In this masterpiece, he depicted a huge figure of a black-cloaked goat. It was bleating to a sabbath of witches. The Spanish artist painted this painting to demonstrate the evil and dark souls of the world. The black-cloaked goat was a huge he-goat. It represented the Satan in the image. All witches in the painting are predominantly women. Goya wanted to challenge the conventional norms of femininity with the help of those witches. Some critics opined that Goya tried to demonstrate the degradation of the post-Napoleonic war society. Therefore, he had chosen the theme of Satan who was commanding witches to spread their evil and dark powers around the world.
The artwork of Witches Sabbath reflects the time period of political turmoil in Spain. The Spanish government had been facing challenges owing to the Penninsular War and the final comeback of Ferdinand VII monarchy reign. During that time, Goya was a regal court painter. He witnessed the massive bloodshed in that war and couldn’t stop himself from showing the apprehensions and anxieties in the painting Witches Sabbath.
Furthermore, Goya painted the master artwork Witches Sabbath in the context of the Romantic movement. Because like Romantic movement attributes, this painting exuded supernatural, mystery, imagination, and macabre.
The Old Ones Eating Soup
After Francisco Goya’s death, the painting The Old Ones Eating Soup was discovered on the ground floor of his villa. It was his smallest painting. But its worth was no less than other paintings. The distinctive feature of this painting was that two spine-chilling figures were eating at a table. The skeleton was eating greedily and demonstrating the greed of human beings to possess things.
Summing it Up
In a nutshell, the contribution of the notable artist Franciso Goya was remarkable in building up the future of modern artworks. His series of mural paintings demonstrate agony, evil forces, darkness of life, and gruesome images magnificently. He inspired his contemporary artists and he has been influencing modern visionary artists.
