Goya is considered by many the father of modern art: his work, spread through 60 years of his life, have changed the concept of the reality in art in many artists, and his influences are still present nowadays. In fact he was one of the earliest artists to bring irrationality on the canvas: Goya made human madness the center of many of his works, and he gained this feeling observing and looking deeply at the decaying period he lived in. He experienced Napoleon's injustices and violence against the Spanish, and constructed his view of humanity over that. As a teenager, Goya was taught by a local artist, Jose Luzan, in the province of Zaragoza. In Madrid, when he was young he witnessed the execution of Spanish loyalists in 1808. That was the Third of May, as recalled by one of his most important paintings title "Third of May." This shows that victims were a major theme of Goya's works: pain, suffering and terror can actually be felt in his helpless men. After his first adventures in Madrid, Goya traveled to Rome. Then he returned to Spain, where he witnessed the oppressive reign of Ferdinand VII, who offered him to work for the court. He refused and moved to France. That (1819) signed the beginning of the "black painting" period of his life. During this period he produced painting about death and destruction, like the God Saturn that eats his own children. Goya has the ability to show the evil of sadism, violence, and even of ignorance. His pessimistic nature, increased in 1793 after an illness, brought himself to solitude, isolation and anguish. He died in Bordeaux in 1828. Most of his works are now conserved at El Prado Museum in Madrid.

Works

The sleep of reason produces monsters (1797-98). Etching with aquatint, 21.6 x 15.2 cm.
The Shootings of May Third 1808 (1814).Oil on canvas: 104 3/4 x 136 in,.Museo del Prado, Madrid
Saturn (1821-1823) 146 x 83 cm. Oil on plaster remounted on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid
The Great He-Goat or Witches Sabbath (1821-1823) 140 x 438 cm Oil on plaster remounted on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.