Francisco Goya, an artist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, expressed his views on the political turbulence in Spain through his artwork. Living during a period of political and social unrest in Europe, Goya was deeply influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, which had also captured the attention of Spain’s influential figures. Born in 1746 in Fuendetodos, Spain, Goya came from a humble background.
As the son of a gilder, Goya was raised in the lower class of society. Even after achieving tremendous success as a court painter for the Spanish royalty, he maintained a strong connection to the everyday Spaniard or majo. This bond with the people continued to influence him throughout his life and career. As Goya’s fame and fortune grew, his portraits, drawings, etchings, and paintings began to reveal an inner conflict. Despite his later affiliation with the Spanish elite, Goya’s earlier works often depicted the upper class as artificial or masked.
The theme of masking is evident in various works of Goya. His tapestry cartoons effectively capture the contrast between social classes. These cartoons depict Spanish individuals engaging in various activities such as leisure, work, and traditional customs. While Goya had a strong bond with his majos and majas, he also embraced the ideas of enlightened philosophers of his era. Influential figures like Jovellanos, who served as minister to king Charles III, resonated with Goya’s other perspectives.
Jovellanos and other Spanish reformers would later become Goya’s patrons and comrades, and they did not support traditional Spain or the traditional views of the majevos. While Goya’s artistic skills propelled him to the top of his field, he never forgot his background. Through his artwork alone, he depicted the lives of both wealthy and impoverished Spaniards during a period of struggle and democratic revolution, illustrating the sheer brutality and foolishness of war. Goya’s tapestry cartoons, created in the late 1780s and early 1790s, received great acclaim for their honest portrayal of everyday life in Spain.
During this time, Goya was not yet involved in the royal patronage circles. Instead, he focused on the everyday people of Spain and their way of life, which was crucial for his artistic growth. Working as a tapestry designer, Goya discovered his artistic style and learned to paint with freedom. This experience enhanced his ability to observe human behavior. His examination of Velazquez’s works in the royal collection influenced his development of a more spontaneous and relaxed painting technique. In 1778, Goya created his renowned artwork, The Blind Guitarist.
The cartoon illustrates the separation of classes, with the aristocrats highlighted by light while the villagers are depicted as shadows on the side. Goya started depicting scenes from his surroundings in the mid-1780s. His collection, The Four Seasons, portrays idyllic scenes of spring, summer, and fall, as well as peasants trudging through a winter snowstorm. These paintings display a monumental style with fewer, more clearly defined figures compared to his earlier cartoons. Spring and fall have clear aristocratic overtones. In Spring, a woman with a noble demeanor graciously accepts flowers from a kneeling woman who is portrayed as one of the maids.
During Autumn, a man and a woman are seen holding a bunch of grapes which serves as a symbol of fertility and fidelity, as further reinforced by the presence of a young child. The child’s clothing suggests that he is the legitimate child of the aristocratic couple rather than the peasant woman, as his outfit resembles the one worn by Don Manuel Oserio in Goya’s portrait dating back to 1788. The women in both these artworks share more similarities with the aristocrats depicted in Goya’s portraits during this period, contrasting with the stereotypical women found in his earlier cartoons prior to 1780.
The labors of peasants fill the harsher seasons. Goya’s largest cartoon, Summer, depicts the peasants after the hay harvest, engaging in rest and festivities. Their impolite gestures, postures, and inebriation reveal their coarseness. In Winter, the peasants struggle through a storm while carrying a slaughtered pig. The use of bright pink to depict the pig symbolizes the Rococo style. The fierce wind nearly breaks a tree, emphasizing the severity of the weather.
The scenes in this set are filled with color, but it is in the winter scenes that Goya first shows a social awareness of the world around him. This same awareness would later evolve into the more extreme and dramatic works that define his mature style. The Royal Tapestry Factory rejected this painting due to its social commentary. Francisco Goya’s questioning and irreverent attitude toward life is clearly depicted in his art.
His artistic talents gained attention from the Spanish monarchs through his success with the Royal Tapestry Workshop, leading to his access to the royal court. As court painter (1789), he produced realistic and penetrating portraits of his patrons. One notable portrait from this period is The Family of Charles IV, which does not strongly emphasize any specific family member. The king, who one would expect to be prominently featured in the portrait, is not given significant focus.
He and the queen have very little control over the portrait. The scene feels very domestic. It represents the Court, but more importantly, it presents a model family according to Enlightenment ideals. This portrait shows Goya’s internal conflict. As someone who believed in reform, Goya’s portrait could have inspired the people of Spain and made the idea of change more appealing to them. However, by depicting the royal family, who were strong supporters of the Enlightenment, he did not promote it as a noble cause.
Instead of portraying Charles IV and his family as competent Spanish dignitaries, they are depicted as inept and incapable. The portrait shows the family members looking in different directions, further emphasizing their incompetence. When Charles IV saw the portrait, he neither liked nor disliked it. This reaction, or lack thereof, can be attributed to the king’s unawareness of the evident unflattering sarcasm. Later on, a critic described the subject of the portrait as a “grocer and his family who have just won the lottery prize.” In the painting, Goya himself is barely noticeable, positioned behind his canvas in the shadows. His facial expression is dryly sarcastic as he looks beyond his subjects to the viewer.
Under the rule of Charles IV, who was weak, Spain experienced political and social corruption. This eventually led to the invasion of Spain by Napoleon in April 1808. In 1799, in response to the repression and economic crisis, Goya published a work called Los Caprichos. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, Goya aimed to examine the human condition and criticize social injustices and superstitions. Los Caprichos expressed Goya’s strong belief that social awkwardness must be eradicated in order for humanity to progress. The series reveals the artist’s political liberalism and his disgust towards ignorance and intellectual oppression. At the same time, it demonstrates Goya’s conflicting feelings towards authority and the church, which were seen as opposites of Enlightenment thought. Los Caprichos depicts themes such as the Spanish Inquisition, abuses committed by the church and nobility, witchcraft, and the frivolous behavior of young women. The collection consists of grotesque figures including goblins, monks, clergymen, prostitutes, witches, animals acting foolishly as humans, and members of the aristocracy.
These public figures exist on the fringes of rationality, where the line between reality and imagination is blurred. Los Caprichos serves not only as a reflection of national struggles, but also addresses the personal challenges Goya faced. In 1792, Goya experienced a severe illness that left him completely deaf. Combined with the tumultuous state of Spain, this led to the creation of the nightmarish images found in Los Caprichos and later in his Black Paintings. In 1814, Goya painted The Third of May 1808, a depiction of the Spanish resistance against French occupation, six years after the event occurred.
Charles IV had given up the throne to his son Ferdinand VII when Napoleon attempted to remove him from power, which led to the tragic events portrayed in The Third of May. Goya witnessed a French firing squad executing civilians in Madrid as a response to Spanish troops killing some of Napoleon’s soldiers. Being in Madrid at the time, Goya visited the execution site multiple times to sketch it accurately, capturing the dismal hillside and distant city in his depiction.
The primary focus of Goya’s work was not to accurately depict factual events, but rather to convey a sense of empathetic horror towards the suffering of his Spanish compatriots facing execution. To express this empathy, he employs light on the images of peasants. The use of this light also adds a layer of irony. Despite France being associated with Enlightenment and progressive change, on this unfortunate day it brings death and chaos instead of the reformation that Goya had admired. In contrast to the realism observed in The Family of Charles IV portrait, Goya’s approach in this particular work is much more raw and extreme in its deviation from optical accuracy.
The figures in the artwork are depicted in distorted postures and gestures to convey both defiance and terror. The central focus is on a peasant, who is portrayed with a stigmata, symbolizing his status as a martyr. The French firing squad, representing the brutality of modern warfare, are dehumanized and portrayed as an anonymous wall of murderers. In contrast, the victims are shown as separate individuals, each facing their own impending death in their own unique way. This intense portrayal emphasizes the individual’s experience amid a larger group of victims. Goya’s artwork reflects his enigmatic record during the Napoleonic usurpation of the Spanish throne and subsequent War of Independence (1808-1813).
Despite his opposition to the war, Goya, along with many other heads of families in Madrid in December 1808, pledged loyalty to the invader. In 1810, he visited the Academy to welcome its newly appointed protector by Joseph Bonaparte. However, during that same year, he started creating his collection of 80 etchings called The Disasters of War. These etchings, in many instances, unambiguously condemn the Napoleonic war. Nevertheless, their expressionistic style transforms the series into a universal protest against the atrocities of war.
Goya supported the French suppression of the Inquisition and the secularization of religious orders. He championed the Spanish people in their fight against oppression and documented their experiences during war. Goya is considered “the first of the moderns” due to his innovative painting techniques, satirical etchings, and belief in prioritizing an artist’s vision over tradition. His powerful portrayal of his contemporary world marked the onset of 19th century realism.
His sympathy for those struggling to free themselves from French military domination of Spain was made known to the world through his work, displaying his dedication to his roots and the extent of his talent. Despite the possibility of disregarding the pleas of his people during a period of unrest, as many influential individuals often do, Goya chose not to do so. Instead, he connects with them through his art and portrays their struggles as if he himself were experiencing them. His unwavering commitment to the cause has resulted in him being recognized as one of Spain’s most acclaimed artists.
