Francisco Goya
Dive into the life and work of Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), Spain’s transformative painter and printmaker. From court portraits to The Disasters of War and the Black Paintings, explore how Goya bridged the Old Masters and modern art.
Introduction
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828) remains one of the most compelling and enigmatic figures in Western art.
He is often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns—a bridge across eras, whose work evolved from courtly portraits and commissioned religious pieces into deeply personal, socially engaged, and psychologically unsettling art.
Goya’s oeuvre includes paintings, drawings, and prints. It reflects his times of upheaval, personal suffering (notably his loss of hearing), and a growing disillusionment with power and human cruelty.
In what follows, we trace his life and development, examine major phases and works, consider his stylistic and thematic concerns, and reflect on the legacy he left behind.
Early Life and Education
Francisco de Goya was born on March 30, 1746, in Fuendetodos, a small village in the Kingdom of Aragón, Spain. His family was of modest status: his father, José Benito de Goya, worked as a gilder and decorator.
When he was about 14, he became an apprentice to José Luzán y Martínez, a local painter. Under Luzán, Goya learned basic drawing, use of color, and decorative techniques.
He later moved to Madrid, where he studied under Anton Raphael Mengs, a leading Neoclassical painter of the time. This formal training exposed him to refined technique and the academic styles then in vogue.
In the mid-1760s, Goya tried to gain admission to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, but his entries were refused—he did not secure a formal academic position then.
He also traveled (or at least spent time) in Italy (or was influenced by Italian art) to broaden his exposure—though the precise records are sparse.
During these formative years, Goya began submitting works and making connections with patrons, but his full rise would come later.
Early & Middle Career: From Tapestry Cartoons to Court Painter
Tapestry Cartoons & Early Commissions
One of Goya’s early steady sources of income came from tapestry cartoons—designs for woven tapestries that would decorate royal residences. Over years, he produced dozens of these, depicting pastoral scenes, everyday life, fêtes, and genre scenes.
Though considered less prestigious than large altarpieces or noble portraits, the cartoons allowed him regular commissions and exposure.
At the same time, he took on religious works and smaller commissions in and around Madrid. These helped him establish technical proficiency and networks with the court and aristocracy.
Entry to the Court & Portraiture
In 1786, Goya was appointed a painter in the service of King Charles III. Later, under King Charles IV, he achieved the rank of First Court Painter (Primer Pintor de Cámara).
He painted portraits of the royal family, nobility, and figures of political significance—including portraits of the Duke of Osuna and his wife, and others. His portraits are notable for their psychological insight and sometimes unflattering truthfulness.
One famous work is Charles IV of Spain and His Family, in which Goya subtly subverts idealization, positioning members and background elements in a way that some interpreters read as satirical or critical of the monarchy.
Illness, Deafness & Shift in Perspective
Around 1792–1793, Goya suffered a serious illness that left him profoundly deaf. The exact cause is debated (possibly typhus, syphilis, lead poisoning, or other).
This life-altering event appears to have ushered in a shift in his outlook and artistic direction: his work began to emphasize darker themes, social critique, psychological tension, and symbolic ambiguity.
He embarked on Los Caprichos, a series of 80 etchings (published 1799) that satirize social mores, superstition, corruption, and human folly.
Goya continued to take court commissions in parallel—maintaining a kind of dual existence: public face and private, darker reflections.
War, Disasters & the Black Paintings
The Peninsular War & The Disasters of War
In 1808, Napoleon’s troops invaded Spain, triggering the Peninsular War—a traumatic conflict for Spain and a turning point for Goya.
Goya remained in Madrid during much of the conflict and witnessed the suffering, executions, famine, and violence.
Between 1810 and 1814, he produced Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), a series of haunting prints that depict the brutal realities of war: cruelty, carnage, famine, and human despair. These were not published in his lifetime (due to their political sensitivity).
In these prints, Goya abandons heroic romanticism—there is no glory, only suffering. He employs stark lines, dark tonality, and confrontational imagery.
He also produced works like The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808, more overtly political paintings commemorating Spanish resistance.
The Black Paintings & Final Years
From about 1819 to 1823, Goya painted a series known as the Black Paintings (Pinturas Negras) directly onto the plaster walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo (“House of the Deaf Man”). These were deeply personal, dark, often nightmarish images, such as Saturn Devouring His Son, Witches’ Sabbath, The Dog, Two Old Men and more.
These works convey themes of madness, mortality, isolation, and existential dread—and they were never intended for public display.
By about 1824, Goya faced increasing political repression and perceived danger; he left Spain and settled in Bordeaux, France, accompanied by his companion (and maid) Leocadia Weiss.
He continued working (e.g. The Bulls of Bordeaux, prints) but in reduced output, often contending with failing health. He died on April 16, 1828, in Bordeaux.
After his death, many of his works—including the Black Paintings—were transferred and conserved. His remains were eventually reinterred in Madrid.
Style, Themes & Innovations
Naturalism, Psychological Depth & Moral Vision
Goya was highly attuned to human vulnerability, social injustice, and the disjunction between appearance and inner reality. Even his early portraits—though formally elegant—often carry a psychological tension or unidealized realism.
Over time, his style grew less bound by academic conventions and more expressive, combining realism, imagination, and oftentimes grotesque or symbolic content.
Printmaking & Etching as Voice
Goya is renowned not just as a painter but as a printmaker. His mastery of etching, aquatint, and variations thereof allowed him to disseminate ideas, critiques, and visions more freely and with subtlety.
His major print series include:
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Los Caprichos (c. 1799) — social satire, moral critique, allegory
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The Disasters of War (c. 1810–1814) — visceral, anti-war, political witness
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La Tauromaquia — scenes of bullfighting, spectacle, ritual
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Los Disparates (or Proverbios) — enigmatic, darkness, absurdity, dreamlike images
These prints allow Goya to express critiques and visions not easily permitted in official or courtly commissions.
Experimentation & Transition
Goya’s career shows successive transitions—from Rococo and decorative beginnings, through Neoclassicism, to a proto-Romantic approach, and into deeply individual, “black” expression.
In his late works, he stripped away conventional elegance and allowed rawness, ambiguity, and chiaroscuro darkness to predominate.
His capacity to span genres—from royal portraiture to private murals—while evolving in tone and theme makes him, in many eyes, a precursor of 19th- and 20th-century modernism.
Legacy and Influence
Francisco Goya’s influence is vast, touching artists, historians, and the broader cultural imagination.
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He is widely regarded as a foundational figure in modern art. Many later artists (e.g. Goya’s influence is traced in Francisco de Goya → Delacroix → Goya’s dark vision echoes in 19th- and 20th-century artists) drew inspiration from his unflinching honesty and expressive intensity.
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His prints especially set a precedent for political and social art: exposing injustice, cruelty, human folly.
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The Black Paintings became iconic as precursors to Symbolism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and later “dark” art tropes.
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His portraiture techniques—capturing psychological nuance, sly distortions, character more than ideal beauty—affected portrait practice in Spain and later Europe.
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Museums, exhibitions, and scholarship continually revisit Goya. He appears in literature, critical theory, and art history as emblematic of how an artist can reflect, critique, and transcend their time.
Today, Goya’s works—whether in the Prado, Musée du Prado, or museums across the world—remain among the most studied and admired in Western art.
Lessons from Goya’s Journey
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Art must evolve with life’s changes
Goya’s deafness, political turmoil, and inner struggles changed him—and his art responded. His willingness to embrace uncertainty rather than stick rigidly to style is instructive. -
The artist as witness
Goya shows that art can bear witness to injustice and suffering. His Disasters of War is a model of how imagery can become moral indictment. -
Balance public and private work
Even as a court painter, Goya cultivated a private language through prints and murals—thus preserving critical voice. -
Truth over flattery
His portraits often resist flattery. He preferred revealing character, tension, and paradox over superficial charm. -
Embrace ambiguity
Especially in his later works, Goya accepted unresolved, ambiguous images. He trusted that viewers would engage, question, and reflect. -
Art as moral engagement
For Goya, painting was not just decorative—it could probe human nature, corruption, suffering, and hope.