Imperfection of the thought, of the mind. Wait. What? ...
Fransisco Goya: A Romantic Artist
For many people “romanticism” means being a sensitive dreamer. According to the definition, “Romanticism is an art movement and style that flourished in the early nineteenth century. It emphasized the emotions painted in a bold, dramatic manner.” 1 According to Victor Hugo romanticism was “a certain vague and indefinable fantasy”. But what was it really? What was it for the people of the 19th century? Romanticism was a way in which painters, writers, poets, musicians, and architects saw the world. Tired from the Enlightenment, these people wanted something that would be more important than Reason: feelings and emotions. After all it were these aspects that made them more human. “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?" 2, said John Keats, reflecting on Romanticism’s purpose. During this time period Europe has learned to feel through art. Artwork depicting untamed nature, dramatic action, brave idealistic heroes, and ancient past started appearing. While the latter ones usually contained nostalgia, other images were melancholic, tragic and rather emotional. When looking at those pieces, one thinks that the artists had a deep connection to their subjects; it was of grave importance to them. Romanticism supported, difference, uniqueness, subjectivism, irrationalism, imagination, freedom of mind and body. It was a movement against the values of the time, partly caused by the desire for social changes (that also led to the French revolution) and a feeling of growing nationalism. The Romantic style affected the public, the artists, and their works even after it ended around 1830-40’s.
Justly called Romantic, this era in art history has seen many great artists, (among them Joseph M. W. Turner, John Constable, Thйodore Gйricault, Eugиne Delacroix, William Blake, and Caspar David Friedrich,) but only one who could switch from court portraits, to battle scenes, to “Black Paintings” and paint them all with equal mastery. Francisco Goya was born on March 30, 1746, in Fuendetodos, Spain. At 13 he became an apprentice at a Madrid artist’s studio. At 26 he married Josefa Bayeu, his life-long wife. Francisco did not like the Enlightenment and thought that “the dreams of Reason only create monsters”, meaning that too much thinking would not lead to anything good. Goya became a recognized portraitist and painted the Spanish Royal Family, as well as Dukes, Duchesses, Countesses, Doctors, etc. In the best traditions of the Romantic period, Goya was subversive and subjective. He did not paint what he was told, but what he perceived. The Family of Charles IV 3 was a direct result of his sarcastic vision pf the monarchs. All adults on the picture look caricature-like, while the children are truly beautiful. As Francisco aged, his “point of view” became darker and darker. As a result of lead poisoning, Goya became deaf in 1792. Shortly after that he started painting the gloomy and disturbing pictures that strangely resembled nightmares. One example of these pictures is the Los Caprichos series. They depict "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual." 4 After the French revolution, when Napoleon’s troops occupied Spain, Goya continued painting. He showed corpses, battles, pain, defeat, and other horrors of war. Two of his famous artworks, The Second of May and The Shootings on May Third 1808 show the Spanish resistance in Madrid and its consequences.
Goya’s The Third of May 1808 5 shows the last moments in the Spanish peasants-defenders-watchers’ lives. They are praying, covering their eyes and ears, trying to hide themselves… Each one ready to die in his own way. Each of the peasants is an individual, a Romantic touch to Goya’s work. The central figure on the painting is a young man, wearing a white shirt. The man’s face is very emotional and expressive. His eyes contain great sadness. This Christ-like character is the hero of the painting, another Romantic influence in the scene. The young peasant immediately steals attention from the rest of the picture; he is the one that holds it all together. The French soldiers are almost identical. It seems like they have no personality. Their faces are not visible; therefore it is almost impossible for the viewer to relate to them. The conflict between the two forces (peasants and soldiers) on the painting can be regarded as a symbol of uniformity against difference, Enlightenment against Romanticism, as well as death and dark forces against freedom and hope. The painting is done in typical “Goya” style. Little attention is paid to the background; most time and effort are spent on the foreground. Goya emphasized the tragedy, the deadly importance of what is happening with the people, rather than where it is happening. He successfully conveys the injustice, the despair, the pain… the mood of the time. Along with the hero, they make the painting seem truly Romantic.
Like many artists of his time, Goya showed his patriotism and his nationalism in his art (ex. Delacroix’s Liberty). He painted all the hopes, beliefs, and ideals of Spain being attacked by the featureless French soldiers. He painted a Christ like figure being shot, sacrificing his life (again?). A powerful idealistic image like that had a great impact on the Catholic people of Spain. They discovered that it was right to stand up for what they believed in. To the rest of the world, Goya showed the shocking effect of aggressive politics, the view from the defeated side, rather than the traditional, victorious one. He was like a modern journalist that filmed the corpses of the Iraqi people during the War on Terror. Even though Goya’s account of the events on the third of May was biased (his usual subjectivism does not leave a place for the French soldiers’ story), he still interpreted what it felt like. "He was the first painter... to set forth the sober truth about human conflict: that it kills, and kills again, and that its killing obeys urges embedded at least as deeply in the human psyche as an impulse toward pity, fraternity or mercy." 6. As the author of the quote noticed, Goya depicted humans, their behaviour, their conflicts, their emotions. As a Romantic he strived to discover their soul, the nature of their inmost being. He spent his last days in exile at Bordeaux. He died April 15, 1828, leaving a great contribution to the humankind, a painted record of Romanticism, the dark and not-so-dark collection of works and subjective “points of view”.
Endnotes + Work Cited
1 Michael Delahunt. Romanticism and the Romantic school. http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/r/romanticism.html
2 John Keats (1795-1821), English Romantic poet. http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/r/romanticism.html
3 According to different sources, the painting is of Charles IV and Carlos IV, depending on the translation.
4 Francisco Goya about Los Caprichos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Goya
5 According to some sources, the painting is also called The Third of May 1808 in Madrid, The Third of May 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, The Shooting of May Third 1808, and other variations.
6 Robert Hughes. Goya.
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