The Black Paintings

Since the last time in class we had to describe Picasso's Guernica, I've decided to talk about one of my favourite painters of all time, Francisco de Goya. Francisco de Goya was a famous spanish painter during the 19th century, his early works were normally portraits of people playing popular games and portraits of different people, including the spanish royal family; however, the paintings that I really want to talk about are the ones from his 'black paintings', he painted these while suffering from a progressive loss of hearing and during a time of conflicts.

These paintings of his represent different themes from mythology (Saturn Devouring His Child) to traditional festival's (San Isidro's Romeria), what all of them have in common is the eerie aura that surrounds them, always using dark colors and deforming human features, these paintings seem like the society of the time seen through a madman's eyes. Alongside the previously mentioned eerieness of these works, they evoke other feelings such as sadness and fear, Goya portrays really dark and sometimes violent images, the sheer expression of the characters and the dark themes they take part in also help to make you feel uneasy.

All in all, the black paintings give us both a representation of the darkness of Spain at the time alongside surreal and creepy images, their influence is so big that it inspired spanish writer Valle-Inclán in his most celebrated work 'Luces de Bohemia'.

                                            San Isidro's Romeria by Francisco de Goya