a painter of great portraits and of mysterious, personal pictorial worlds a painter of saints and criminals, witches and demons a painter of the drama of reason and irrationality, of dreams and nightmares …

3. a painter of great portraits and of mysterious, personal pictorial worlds
a painter of saints and criminals, witches and demons
a painter of the drama of reason and irrationality, of dreams and nightmares …

4. The Prado’s treasures

5. Goya: a journey into the beautiful and the incomprehensible ...

6. the artist's mastery to paint shadow and light ...
a parasol
a small dog
a majo
a maja very coquettish, with fashionable clothes
and
a fan closed to avoid suggesting any intimate messages
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Parasol
Le Parasol ou L'Ombrelle
1777
Museo del Prado, Madrid

9. a country scene
And
a metaphor for blind love referring to the blindfold
worn by the person trapped by his companions
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Blind Man’s Buff
La Poule aveugle
1788
Museo del Prado, Madrid

12. four women
and
a straw manikin
this scene can be interpreted as man's fall into the clutches
of a capricious woman
can also ironically allude to the political instability of the time
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Straw Manikin
Le Pantin
1791 - 1792
Museo del Prado, Madrid

14. a dwarf who is dancing
Colombina, Pierrot, the bourgeois Pantalone
and
Harlequin balancing three cups, which symbolize the instability
of the amorous relationship
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Strolling Players
Des acteurs comiques ambulants
1793
Museo del Prado, Madrid

15. and
a sign bearing the inscription "ALEG. MEN."abbreviation of Alegoría menandrea ('Menandrean Allegory’),
or Alegoría menipea ('Menippean Allegory’)
At first sight the scene suggests an obscene carnivalesque satire on the Spanish Bourbon king Charles IV,
his queen María Luisa and their favorite Godoy, based on popular rumors
However, the use of the term 'allegory' attests to a further underlying meaning …
The Strolling Players may well represent the French Bourbon king, his queen Marie Antoinette and Godoy,
who failed in his attempt to save them from the guillotine

18. two young ladies
a old woman recalling the witches that Goya would
later come to paint
a richly-decorated carriage
and
a lady who turns her melancholic gaze outwards
towards the viewer
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Pottery Vendor
Le Marchand de vaisselle
1778 - 1779
Museo del Prado, Madrid

20. a marriage of convenience ...
the bride, a beautiful young girl dressed in an elegant frock,
graciously allowing herself - from her new economic
and social position - to be contemplated by the other girls
of the village
the groom, a rich but ugly man, with coarse, bloated
features, with wearing ridiculous old-fashioned attire,
making him the centre of the parody
the father of the bride gives his new son-in-law an
affectionate look, and in his face we can see the happiness
of a man who has just made a good business deal
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Wedding
Le Mariage
1791 - 1792
Museo del Prado, Madrid

23. an lady ...
a green velvet divan with cushions
an delicate transparent clothing
identified as Pepita Tudó, Godoy´s mistress
"sequestered" by the Spanish Inquisition
between 1814 and 1836
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Clothed Maja
La Maja vêtue
1800 - 1807
Museo del Prado, Madrid

25. a dusted wig
a richly embroidered red velvet dress coat
Order of the Golden Fleece,
sash of San Genaro,
original sash of the Order of Charles III.
and
two royal symbols: the crown and the ermine robe
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Charles IV in Red
Charles IV en rouge
1789
Museo del Prado, Madrid

27. a royal crown
a skirt
and
a large feathered hat
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Queen María Luisa in a Dress with hooped Skirt
Portrait de Marie-Louise de Parme
1789
Museo del Prado, Madrid

29. a reflection of the family of Charles IV, not an idealized
interpretation …
our queen was ugly; her face just looked like that
our hag had lupus, which causes facial lesions
our mommy with baby is standing so stiff and straight
because she has a spinal defect
…
maybe the members of the family wanted to be portrayed
as how they really looked, whether attractive or unattractive
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Family of Carlos IV
La Famille de Charles IV
1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid

32. the dark sky
and
the patron saints of Seville
palms of martyrdom
ceramic pots denoting their profession as potters
lion by Saint Rufina's licking the feet
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Saints Justa and Rufina
Juste et Rufine
1817
Museo del Prado, Madrid

34. a dramatic work
the lantern, an omen of death
Goya illuminates the pained face of Christ,
leaving the other figures in semi-darkness
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Taking of Christ
L'Arrestation du Christ
1798
Museo del Prado, Madrid

36. three semi-nude witches wearing penitential coroza
a writhing nude figure
two figures in peasants' garb recoil from the spectacle
and
a donkey, traditional symbol of ignorance
… a critique of superstition and ignorance, particularly in
religious matters
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Witches' Flight
Le Vol des Sorcières
1798
Museo del Prado, Madrid

38. a dark background
a basket
and
bodies of the animals
bodies, almost humanizing ...
suggesting a connection between the still lifes
and Goya’s etchings in the Disasters of War series
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Dead Fowl
Nature morte aux oiseaux morts
1808 - 1812
Museo del Prado, Madrid

41. a ferocious melee
acts of anonymous heroism in the face of defeat
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The 2nd of May 1808 in Madrid
or “The Fight against the Mamelukes”
Le deux mai 1808 à Madrid ou La Charge des mamelouks
1814
Museo del Prado, Madrid

44. the early hours of the morning following the uprising
...
a rigidly poised firing squad
a disorganized group of captives held
... a square lantern on the ground throws a dramatic
light on the scene
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid or The Executions
Le trois mai 1808 à Madrid ou Les Fusillades du 3 mai
1814
Museo del Prado, Madrid

47. a terrified crowd flees before an apparition of a giant ...
a reference to the Spanish War of Independence
but it has also been given more mundane interpretations,
such as a storm in the countryside
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Colossus
Le Colosse
1818-1825
Museo del Prado, Madrid

49. Goya as a precursor of the Impressionists ...
a painting in changing shades of blue
far from the gloom and despondency of the Quinta del Sordo,
the obscurity of the Proverbios and the records of cruelty
and madness in his late black chalk drawings
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
The Milkmaid of Bordeaux
La Laitière de Bordeaux
1825-1827
Museo del Prado, Madrid

51. Goya, not only do you deserve the death, but the Gallows! If I forgive you, it's because I admire you …
Ferdinand VII in 1814

52. a greenish-gray background
elegantly dressed
and
sitting on a discrete, refined armchair with a gilded frame
and red velvet
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Self-Portrait
Autoportrait
1795
Museo del Prado, Madrid

54. vulnerable and fragile
Goya on the threshold of old age
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de
Self-Portrait
Autoportrait
1815
Museo del Prado, Madrid

56. olga_oes
The Prado’s treasures. Goya: a journey into the beautiful and the incomprehensible ...
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57. from light into darkness ...
from the pastoral idylls, picnics, games, weddings,
classical portraits of kings, queens with an almost cruel touch of realism, without any effort to beautify
the far from classical features of Queen Maria Luisa
to the intimate works he produced towards the end of his life in Bordeaux, not forgetting the images of war,
whit realistic suffering, portraits of unrelieved gloom and terror

58. from the darkness into light …
Aun aprendo
I am still learning
1826

59. a man is moving away from the darkness behind him and into light,
although part of his legs and body are also cast in shadow ...

61. a bent old man with a long and full white beard walking with two canes, one in each hand ...
The title: Aun aprendo
In English, this means, “I am still learning”
By this point in his life, Goya was himself an old man, living out the final years of his more than eight decades
on the planet in exile from his beloved homeland in Bordeaux, France.
The man’s body in the painting shows all the ravages of time’s inevitable advance and toll. Yet his commitment
to learning, and thereby to growth and, ultimately, to life, remains intact.
Goya’s unbroken commitment to creation and the work inspires and nudges to continue to learn, even when
the learning is new and unfamiliar and hard.