Goya Artist Copy Painted By Lucy Inserra 2014
Hello everyone, it’s been awhile. After some
setbacks in my personal life, I have finally started thinking and researching
on my next series. I will keep you in suspense until I become closer to
creating the series. I really enjoy the process that I go through when creating
new piece of work. I have been looking at art work from surrealists, expressionists,
and Gothic paintings recently. I want to combine all three into one painting or
paintings.
The feeling or expression I want from the paintings
is a little dark, eerie place of uncertain, and of a warning. The first painter that came to mind is
Francisco Goya (1746-1828). Goya was a bit of a mad man they say or he was
afraid of insanity. I am interested in his “Black Paintings” he created on the
walls of his studio. Goya is known for these series of paintings that he
created in the years of 1819-1823 known as the black paintings for they are
intense and haunting in style with eerie figures within the darkness of the
paintings. I found these paintings captivating because of the expression they
give off from viewing these paintings with the simple brush strokes of Goya.
Well, not simple brush strokes but the expression use of the brush-the contour
lines along with muted color palette. For Example, “Saturn Devouring His Son”
(1819-23) was the artist copy I painted to get the feel of the paint brush
style and I must say the feeling I received from the image was over powering- a
evil presence. I heard from one of my college classes or even read it somewhere
that this painting actually had the figure showing an erection but was blacked out
due to deterioration of the painting. That would have made it even more evil,
don’t you think?
The story behind the “Black Paintings” is interesting
and really, it’s a look into the mind of an artist that was full of fear, lose,
and depression. Francisco Goya was a Spanish Romantic Painter that was
influenced by Manet, Picasso (of course) and Francis Bacon. Goya did portraits
for Charles the III of Spain and Crown Prince Don Luis; later in 1789 he became
Court Painter for Charles IV of Spain. Although, Goya was a success with kings
and queens of Spain doing their portraits, his isolation fell upon him when he
contracted a serious illness that caused him to go deaf in 1793. Goya became
withdrawn and he would isolate himself due to the madness of becoming deaf.
Goya soon went through hard times, by 1808 France had invaded Spain and he felt
the world around him changing. Goya created the famous painting “Third of May
1808” of a depiction of Spain surrendering to France after a bloody battle.
Then in 1812, his wife died, Goya became even more emotionally and mentally
broken. During the times of 1812 to 1819, Goya continued with his portraits but
he still liked the idea of isolation. In 1819, he bought a country house
outside of Madrid that was previously owned by a deaf man. The house was known
to be the “House of the Deaf Man” not because of Goya becoming deaf. This is
where the Black paintings were created on the walls of this house. Now, these paintings were NOT for public
viewing, they were his personal creations of a mind of a mad man. I heard that
he used a certain turpenoid that caused him to go mad because of the fumes in a
closed off room. Goya created 14 paintings within the house; on the walls of
the dining room and sittings rooms. The paintings reflect his fear of insanity
and the outlook of humanity-cruel and evil. After surviving two illnesses (in
which is not stated what they were), he was facing his own mortality as a human
being. I read somewhere, that those paintings were later removed on the
concrete that they were painted on and are displayed and preserved in museum in
Spain.
The meaning behind the paintings:
Saturn
devouring his son: A Greek myth of Titan Cronus aka:
Saturn who feared that he would be overthrown from one of his children, so he
would eat each one upon birth. Goya was giving off the expression of humans
that would turn into cannibalism due to war, famine, or even madness. My
personal input, the painting itself expresses the fear of death in a cruel way,
for one the infant has the body form as a adult human, and Saturn has the look
of a mad man. The cruel death of being eaten alive or dying within oneself,
death of madness. The tight grip Saturn has represents there’s no escape in
death’s grip. The darkness that surrounds the image of Saturn, lurking from one
side of the painting, creeping into the light of his madness while his eating
his son, starting with his head first. Madness I say madness.
Saturn
Devouring His Son,
c. 1819–1823. Oil mural transferred to canvas, 143cm x 81cm. Museo del
Prado, Madrid.
Witches’
Sabbath (1821-1823): This painting is depicting witches
gathered for some kind of ritual where all the witches are squeezed together for
comfort. The witches’ faces are disfigured, ugly, and scared. There is a black
goat figure on the left, draped with a dark cloth representing the devil or
some kind of evil justice. To the right, there is a person draped in white
clothes, and a look of surprised or unbelief. To the very far right, sits a
woman draped in black although, she is sitting in a profile position, she gives
off the expression of doubt or undecided for her arms are folded across her
chest inserted in a hand warmer cloth. When viewing this painting, I immediately
felt some kind of trail was going on; the innocent being prosecuted by
something evil.
After some reading, Goya was depicting the witch trials in the
15th century where the witches were prosecuted for causing mass
starvation, failing crops, and freezing weather. Including, spells, magic, and
the rising of crimes. Curious, I started thinking why Goya would pick such imagery
with the use of dual palette of colors, the size of the painting, and
expression of brush stroke. The brush work is simple yet, strong with the thick
lines and not so detailed figures as you would see on the popular portraits of
significant history lessons. Goya must have been trying to express himself on
these painting on how he viewed the world; judgmental, quick to die, dark,
isolation, or maybe that he was looked at as different too, crazy, and a loner.
Either way, he was a great painter. Crazy or not.
Witches'
Sabbath, 1821–1823.
140cm × 438 cm, (55 × 170 inches), Museo del
Prado, Madrid.
Two
Old People Eating Soup: This Goya Painting is for you to
tell me what you think when viewing this painting? What is the significance with
the couple in the painting? Is there a story in it? What is the story about? What do
you think Goya was thinking? Try to step into the darkness with Goya during his
painting sessions in his deaf house in Madrid. Now, don’t go crazy but take a
look through the eyes of a mad man who just simply feared death. At one point
or another, we too will face our death….how do handle that?
additional paintings mentioned in blog.
The Third of May 1808, 1814. Oil on
canvas, 266 х 345 cm. Museo del Prado
Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
