a lonely man, worn out by years and illness, locked in his deafness, moves away from the splendour of the Spanish court and walls himself up in his country house ...

2. a lonely man, worn out by years and illness, locked in his deafness,
moves away from the splendour of the Spanish court and walls himself up in his country house ...

3. The Prado’s treasures

4. Black Paintings …

5. the woman dressed in mourning and leaning against a burial mound represents Leocadia Weiss, Goya's
partner after the death of his wife, Josefa
the painting contains a sense of peace and air of reconciliation absent in the other works from the series
is supposed that Goya himself to be lying in the grave, and that his Black Paintings are meant to be seen as
messages from the hereafter
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
A Manola: Leocadia Zorilla
Une manola: Léocadie Zorrilla
1820 – 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

8. we do not know exactly what is represented in this painting
a series of grotesque characters who could be nuns and witches, go in procession to an undetermined place ...
entitled "The Holy Office" on the basis of a character in the lower right corner, wearing the Inquisition habit
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Pilgrimage to the Fountain of San Isidro or The Holy Office
Procession à la source Saint-Isidore ou le Saint-Office
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

11. probably the most enigmatic work of Goya ...
Asmodeus, represented here as a female demon, transports Don Cleophas into the air, the two of them can
enter people's intimacy and contemplate their vices
Cleophas indicates on the hill a village that will be destroyed
at the foot of the mountain extends a dark plain with fighting scenes, two soldiers in French uniforms
attack a resistance group
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Asmodea or Fantastic Vision
Vision fantastique ou Asmodée
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

14. a reinterpretation of the mythological subject of the goddesses of destiny—the Moirai
Atropos, the inexorable goddess of death, who carries a few scissors to cut the thread of life;
Clotho, with her distaff (which Goya replaces with a newborn child, possibly an allegory of life),
Lachesis, which in this representation looks across a lens and symbolizes time, since she was the one who
measured the length of the fiber
to the three female figures suspended in the air a fourth figure is added, possibly male, with your hands tied
if this interpretation is true, the fates would be deciding the destiny of the man whose bound hands cannot be
opposed to his fate
… all four are hideously ugly !
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Atropos or The Fates
Les Moires Átropos ou Les Parques
1820 – 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

17. the traditional interpretation: two commoners fighting in a desolate place trapped knee-deep
interpretation in Spain: a fratricidal struggle between Spaniards
interpretation by Spanish intellectuals: a representation of death as an anticipation of the civil war
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Duel with Cudgels, or Fight to the Death with Clubs
Duel au gourdin ou la Rixe
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

20. two elderly figures dressed in Friar's habits
in the foreground a man with a sad but serene expression
beside him a dark figure whose face appears animalistic or corpse-like, shouting into the ear of his companion
…
may be an allusion to Goya's deafness
may be a demonic figure talking into his ears
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Two Old Men
Deux vieux
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

23. a Pilgrimage to San Isidro ...
a group of prominent figures in the night, apparently intoxicated and singing with distorted faces
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Pilgrimage to San Isidro
La Procession à l'ermitage Saint-Isidore
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

26. Satan dressed in clerical clothing he has a goat-like beard and horns and gaping mouth
before him a circle of crouched and mostly terrified women, a coven of witches, some bow their heads in fear,
others look towards him in open-mouthed and rapt awe
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Witches' Sabbath, or the Great He-Goat
Le Sabbat des sorcières ou le Grand Bouc
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

29. two elderly figures, they are assumed to be men
the mouth of the left figure is drawn into a grimace, possibly from lack of teeth
the other figure hardly seems alive at all, its eyes are black hollows and the head bears the aspect of a skull
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Two Old Men eating or Two Old Ones Eating Soup
Deux vieillards mangeant de la soupe
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

32. white flesh, red blood of the corpse ...
Saturn Devouring His Son
his mouth gapes and his eyes bulge widely
area around his groin is indistinct (originally portrayed with a partially erect penis)
various interpretations of the meaning of the picture: the conflict between youth and old age, time as the
devourer of all things, the wrath of God and an allegory of the situation in Spain, where the fatherland consumed
its own children in wars and revolution
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Saturn. Saturn Devouring His Son
Saturne. Saturne dévorant un de ses fils ou Saturne dévorant son enfant
1820 – 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

35. a personal reinterpretation of the narrative of the Book of Judith
a torch illuminates Judith's face and leaves in semidarkness the face of the old serving woman whose darkened
outline is shown in prayer
significantly, neither Holofernes nor the blood streaming from his neck is shown
may be a work considered as an allusion by Goya to his lover (to Leocadia Zorrilla-Weiss' control over the old,
sick and sexually impotent Goya); or more generally the power of castration of women over men
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Judith and Holofernes
Judith et Holopherne
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

38. three figures ...
two women, probably prostitutes, with mocking expressions and broad sinister smiles looking at a man who
appears to be masturbating
Women Laughing is often seen as a companion work, a feminine counterpart to Men Reading
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Two Women and a Man or Women Laughing
Femmes riant ou Deux femmes et un homme
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

41. a group of six men huddled together reading a printed page ...
often seen as a male counterpart to the feminine Two Women
Women Laughing shows two hags mocking a man in the act of masturbating, while in Men reading
the incessant talk of the politicians was perhaps, in Goya’s eyes, as sterile as the solitary pleasure
which the women are making fun of ...
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Men Reading
Hommes lisant
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

44. the most enigmatic of the Black Paintings ...
a dark gray dog in front of an empty and naked space
a symbolic depiction of man's futile struggle against malevolent forces
a portrait of solitude, of the inevitability of death
a frightful picture of helplessness and despair, of abandonment, loneliness, and neglect
a picture about bare survival in the face of hopeless doom
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Drowning Dog
Le Chien
1820 - 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid

47. olga_oes
The Prado’s treasures, Black Paintings
…
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Music Lux Aeterna (Requiem for a
Dream) Clint Mansell
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48. The Black Paintings (Spanish: Pinturas negras) is the name given to a group of fourteen paintings by Francisco
Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823.
They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and his bleak outlook on humanity.
In 1819, at the age of 72, Goya moved into a two-story house outside Madrid that was called Quinta del Sordo
(Deaf Man's Villa). Although the house had been named after the previous owner, who was deaf, Goya too was
nearly deaf at the time as a result of a fever he had suffered when he was 46.
The paintings originally were painted as murals on the walls of the house, later being "hacked off” the walls and
attached to canvas.They are now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
After the Napoleonic Wars and the internal turmoil of the changing Spanish government, Goya developed an
embittered attitude toward mankind. He had a first-hand and acute awareness of panic, terror, fear and hysteria.
He had survived two near-fatal illnesses, and grew increasingly anxious and impatient in fear of relapse.
The combination of these factors is thought to have led to his production of the Black Paintings.
Using oil paints and working directly on the walls of his dining and sitting rooms, Goya created works with
dark, disturbing themes. The paintings were not commissioned and were not meant to leave his home.
It is likely that the artist never intended the works for public exhibition.
Goya did not give titles to the paintings, or if he did, he never revealed them. Most names used for them are
designations employed by art historians.

49. in all probability, the fifteenth Black Painting.
It became separated from the other paintings
and is now in the collection of Stanley Moss
in New York City
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Heads in a landscape
Têtes dans un paysage
Cabezas en un paisaje
1820 - 1823
Collection Stanley Moss, New York