Lesson 3 - Hughes - Goya

Goya is described as having dark images and a crazy mind, but crazy like a genius. Hughes himself, the narrator of the film has understanding of the mindset of Goya for he himself had a near death experience. I believe this experience is what allows Hughes to identify with the darker paintings of Goya.

Goya was not a peasant, he grew up in a tiny town with his mother. His first large commission was on inside a monk church. Here he was to paint 11 paintings on the inside of the church, no one has ever seen his paintings. Only one painting still exist for he was inexperienced and painted directly on the plaster walls, after damage, the church had them restored by a French painter; only one original remains. Yes he was young when painting these, but his presence was still there, as well as a portrait of himself.

Later works by Goya were critized as cartoons, but Goya mastered what others could not, the ability to please a client. The film then showed a gallery opening for Goya and his women, shown is a very young Queen Elizabeth (this movie is a tad bit old). The women painted by Goya showed every detail from rich, poor, clothed and naked. One portion that I believe the narrator wanted us to know about this part of Goya's life is that he like himself was a creepy old man. (yes i am laughing as I type this) One painting of the Dutchess of Elbow showed he pointing to the sand where Goya had written ONLY GOYA. We then pan to the very first portrait of a naked woman, beautiful and different, Hughes informs us that he would like to jump in the painting and have sex with her. This film is making me a tad bit uncomfortable!

Here and where the Goya of madness appears, in 1792 he becomes ill with vertigo, death and blindness. He overcomes some of the illness but remains death the rest of his life. After this experience his paintings changed forever. Goya was now fighting himself and the madness within. His paintings were of prisons and madhouses, where individuals were not helped but dumped, something inside of his had changed.

Goya - The Meadow of San Isidro on his Feast Day 

Goya - Pilgrimage to San Isidro

The paintings are different but of the similar layout. One very dark, the people have changed from royal to groups of robbers and thieves. They are irrational and profoundly weird. 

During the French Revolution Goya became the correspondent journalist before they even had a title. Many of the scenes drawn by him were to believed to be false and imagined. A man of 62 years old could not have possibly seen these gruesome scenes and escaped.  Two national days were painted by Goya and gained him great acknowledgment. The 2nd day of May (rebirth of Spanish identity), the 3rd of May (the start of the great war of national liberation).

Goya - Third of May - 1808

Goya died in 1828, he was 82 years old. One of his final paintings were a self portrait. A sickly man being forced medicine by his close friend Dr. Areata.