Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter born in 1746 in Spain. He is very well known for his Black Paintings which weren't found until 50 years after his death. I am not going to talk about how great a painter he was or how varied his art work was but instead I am going to talk about a very specific set of paintings and his style or technique in those paintings. From patterns to painting for the royalty, Goya had definitely come a long way especially after being denied entry in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts however in his later years he had isolated himself during which he painted the Black paintings with haunting themes which probably reflected his inner fears. Some of the famous paintings from the Black paintings are Saturn devouring his son, the Witches' flight and the Witches' Sabbath. All of these paintings have very dark themes which are expertly expressed through the dark colour palette chosen by the artist. The technique here is not only odd but unique too. Usually the technique of painting would be from light to dark but in all of his paintings of the Black paintings Goya has painted from dark to light starting from a black background. All of his paintings were painted onto his walls which were later turned into canvases when they were discovered. 

I believe that the artist not only painted his fears onto his walls but also what he thought of his surroundings and society back then. By looking at these paintings you have a rough idea about the society back then or rather the opinion of Goya regarding his society and its obvious that it wasn't good. These paintings also reflect the lifestyle of the people back then due to which you see the fear among the women drawn in the Witches' sabbath along with the expression of the he-goat which most probably represents the richer people who are making the poor suffer. 

All in all the paintings not only give the viewer a sense of fear but also provoke a whole thought process. One cannot just look at it and move on. Francisco Goya has very successfully created a captivating series of paintings.