HORROR MONTH #3: The Black Paintings, by Francisco Goya (1819-1823)

A Pilgrimage to San Isidro

Type of Media: Gallery Art

What does despair look like?

In the early 1800s Spain was in a period of serious political unrest. Spain had lost a major source of income since its American colonies had rebelled, and King Ferdinand VII was refusing to recognize the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812. Poor pay and the king's denial of the rights granted by the Spanish Constitution sparked a military mutiny, which lead to a liberal revolution culminating in civil war between revolutionaries and the crown.

Francisco Goya, Spain's preeminent artist of the early 19th century, often produced paintings that reflected what was going on in Spain at the time. In 1819 Goya was old, recovering from serious illness, and pessimistic about the future of his country. These factors lead him to take the pleasant rural landscape murals painted on the walls of his home, douse them in dark ink, and cover them with the Black Paintings.

Saturn Devouring His Son

The Black Paintings are bleak. They show twisted scenes that draw on a fear of insanity, aging, and primal superstition. In one scene, the god Saturn devours his own son, his eyes blazing with fear at the idea of being replaced by someone younger. In another, two old men eat a bowl of soup, one man grinning manically and the other with his sunken, skull-like head on the table. In another, a lone dog lifts its head above a sea of brown, searching for some way out of its prison.

The paintings employ a limited color palette, with earthy browns and yellows, greys, and blacks in abundance. The only whites are found in peasant's clothing, tensed knuckles, and eyes widened in fright or awe. They also show Goya's impressive talent and experimental style. Goya was considered both an Old Master and a modernist, and the composition of the paintings, with subjects often pulled to one side of the frame and heavy use of blank space, was incredibly innovative for the time.

In all, Goya produced fifteen Black Paintings. He didn't create these paintings because a gloomy aristocrat commissioned them; he created the Black Paintings for himself. They were painted on the walls of his home, untitled and never intended to be seen by the public. Goya, increasingly disillusioned with humanity, wanted to surround himself with darkness and madness.

Almost fifty years after Goya's death, the paintings were transferred from the walls of his mansion to canvas, and are currently on display at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. If you ever go there, take a break from the impressionist scenes and royal portraits, go down to the museum's basement, and take a look at the last fears of a dying man.