GOYA
1746 – 1828

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At first it was called “gypsies”, matching the clothed Maja. It creates a new nudity form, later followed by other painters, specially in France. Speculations about models for this work have been very numerous: nowadays it’s believed that he used several women, ones for the face and others for the body. Goya’s use of light is really splendid, obtaining an intimate and tinged atmosphere.

Curiosity: The model’s weight lies on her feet.

The Clothed Maja
(La Maja Vestida)
Painted 1797-98.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 37.52″ X 74.80″

Curiosity: The model’s weight lies on her calves.

A disturbing and undecipherable painting. It belongs to the 14 “black paintings”, and it was painted on the wall of one of the Quinta del Sordo’s (the House of the Deaf Man) rooms. There’s no biblical or mythological inspiration, it could be possibly an expression of his own anguish.

Curiosity: Is the dog on the sand or in the water?

The Milkmaid of Bordeaux
(La Lechera de Burdeos)
Painted 1827.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 29.13″ X 26.77″

It was painted during his exile years in France. Goya returns to his beginnings´ brightness, blurring borders and including blue colour in the background.

Curiosity: It is considered the first impressionist painting in art history.

Lively shades and their contrast forming a harmonic whole, show us the artist´s true maturity. Scenes from everyday life at the time is the main motif in a series of paintings Goya did between 1786 and 1788.

Curiosity: Background workers enjoy their job!.

The Puppet
(El Pelele)
Painted: 1791.
 

One of the last works that Goya painted for the textile mill of King Carlos IV.
It’s supossed to have a symbolic meaning, full of sarcasm about the monarch and the country’s political position.

The picture was painted by commission of the King together with “The Charge of the Mamelukes” to perpetuate the Madrid people´s stand against the forces of Napoleon. Possibly they were made from sketches drawn by witnesses at the shootings. Both the night and symmetrical composition of the subjects emphasize the drama: those being shot with their faces looking ahead, filled with feeling, and the soldiers from behind, depicting evil’s machines.

The Blind Man’s Bluff
(La Gallina Ciega)
Painted: 1789.
 

This painting was among the second group of 10 cartoons displayed in the dining room of the Prince and Princess of Asturias –the future King Charles IV and Maria Luisa de Parma– in the Palace of the Pardo in Madrid. The canvas reproduces a popular motif, inspired from the most picturesque aspects of customs and life in Madrid at the time. The PARASOL is an original composition. The fresh and warm colouring, the damsel responding to a gallant flirtation, and the lit background make this one of Goya’s most cheerful paintings.

The Junkman
(El Chatarrero)
Painted 1779.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 101.9″ X 86.6″

It was painted for the King and is plentiful of 18th century Spanish popular atmosphere. The theme was possibly suggested by the King’s own daughter.
Velazquez’s influence can be observed here in dealing with shapes and objects (tableware on the ground).

Before King Carlos III’s death, Goya painted some works for the royal dining room of the Palace of El Pardo. It’s based on country subjects, as ‘The wine harvest’ is. They are absolutely filled with life and joy, reflecting the painter’s personal situation and Spain’s one till the monarch’s death.

The Wedding
(La Boda)
Painted: 1791 / 92.
 

Curiosity: It’s is a succession of caricatures of the age characters.

Goya again shows his ability to capture a moment in action, here he fills the scene with great vitality and life, as well as the sensuality of eating and sharing out in the open landscape.

Game of the Little Giants
(Las Gigantillas)
Painted: 1792-1793.
 

One of his last works before being named painter to the courts of Spain.
This was around the time that he became totally deaf, as the smile on the child in the painting shows, happiness mixed with aprehension and maybe fear, which is different from the usual bliss of his scenes which were to decorate the palaces dining rooms.

This customs and manners depicted here is the best example of Goya’s countryside motif, which is the main subject of a cartoon series that Goya painted by commission of Carlos III. They were unfinished because of the King’s death. According to Goya himself, he had some trouble with the composition. It isn’t strange, only one look is needed to see the complexity of this picture.

The Snowstorm
(La Nevada)
Painted: 1786 / 87.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 108.26″ X 115.35″

Maybe the most terrible of Goya’s paintings, it was done during his last and dark years. The expressed violence depicts the tortured mind of the painter, typical of his whole work.

Old Men Eating Soup
(Viejos Comiendo Sopas)
Painted: 1819 / 23.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 20.86″ X 33.46″

This is one of the ‘black paintings’ of la Quinta del Sordo (the House of the Deaf Man) – where Goya lived. His house was named because of his deafness. The reduced and dark palette of these paintings show once more the painter’s state of mind.

Black painting with all its attributes: darkness, deformed and misshapen figures, not much variety of colours. Depictes a popular sorcery act.

Pilgrimage to St. Isidro’s Fountain
(Peregrinación a la Fuente de San Isidro)
Painted: 1821 / 23.
ORIGINAL SIZE: 55.11″ X 172.44″

Colours, force, aggression, expression, pure impressionism. A magically achieved counter light, and silhouettes with the irregular shape of cats fur, expressing their emotion.