Francisco Goya Paintings

Francisco Goya is known as a master painter, but what makes his work truly interesting is his willingness to address the darker aspects of human culture. From his Caprichos, Nadie se conoce a painting from 1796 was the one that I thought embellished this dark culture feeling. To me the painting seems to show the pig like nature of men. There is a girl walking through the middle and is the focus of the painting, but in the background you see men depicted in a creepy, monster like fashion. They seem to be staring at her which to me could symbolize the objectification of women. One more small detail is you can see another female leaning in to her looking as if she is giving her support trying to lift her spirits.



Now from the Black Paintings, the Duel With Cudgels painting had the strongest message for me. These two young men are shown ready to strike each other. But if you look deeper you can see a lot of emotion on either face. They both look like they do not want to do what they are doing. I see fear and uncertainty in both of them and it as if something is forcing them to fight to the death. To me this shows that fear can manifest in anyone and may cause you to act in ways you never thought you'd let yourself. The landscape adds a little perspective as well, seeing that they are in the middle of nowhere this could have been some kind of survival situation for both of them and being lost may have brought them to madness.