FRANCISCO GOYA, The Proverbs. 1891 by Atelier Liesjes

About "FRANCISCO GOYA, The Proverbs. 1891"

by Atelier Liesjes

About the artwork

the artist shows the world in substance as a madhouse and as a chaos of light and dark masses, which are artistically tamed and given form in the etching. But the human figures are often dehumanized, animals and monsters gain power over them These follies, folly and absurdities ... are not only those of an earlier society of the 18th century, they are still in us today, in the spiritual abyss of human nature from which they repeatedly break out as wishes, desires, hopes, cruelties, fears and feelings

Francisco José De Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Spain, March 30, 1746 - Bordeaux, France, April 16, 1828) was a Spanish painter and engraver. Goya had already achieved some fame in the 1780s through his membership of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In the summer of 1786, Charles III of Spain appointed him "painter to the king," the second position after official court painter. After the death of Charles III in 1788, his successor Charles IV of Spain appointed him as court painter in April 1789.

In addition to paintings of high-ranking clergymen, Goya also produced etchings which he printed in large numbers and which were sold in many cities, including outside Spain. Goya was strongly influenced by the Enlightenment. In terms of style, Francisco Goya's work belongs to the Romantic era, but he was also influenced by Enlightenment thinking.