Mental health role in Francisco de Goya’s works
Francisco de Goya and Lucientes was one of the most important and influential painters in Spain during his period, ranging from the end of the 18th century at the beginning of the 19th century. It is considered one of the founders of modern painting and a leader in the artistic styles of romanticism, expressionism, surrealism, and impressionism. You can divide your career into four stages. Each one has very several characteristics and there are prominent changes in style and content between each of these stages. What is the reason why these differences? Political conflicts, changes in society, and the general environment of Spanish life can help a role in the results of the works. However, it was his mental health that had the most prevalent role in the differences between the stages and cause the style of his art to change for his life until his death in 1828.
The first stage begins in 1762 and ends in 1775. During this time, Goya was living and learning in Madrid and in Italy. This stage is characterized by popular and cartoon realism, but at the same time by religious works. For example, his work in the vault of the Basilica of Pilar de Zaragoza is a good illustration of his religious works of this stage. It was during this time that Goya developed the foundation of his artistic skills, I look.
After the first stage, the second stage began in 1775 and ended in 1792. This era allowed Goya to improve his technique and produce works of custom and decorative character. During these years, Goya worked at the Royal Tapestry Factory of Madrid, and although his skills improved a lot, he could not develop his own personality in his works. Goya released sketches that were exact copies of Velázquez’s works, demonstrating his ability but hiding his own identity. Paintings of this era, such as the blind chicken and parasol, are painted with bright colors and seem friendly and balanced. The paintings offer a pleasant and smiling vision of popular life (Muñoz 106). There is an animated composition, energy brushstrokes, and subtle color.
The third period began in 1792 and ended in 1808. This era is characterized by a disease that would end up causing deafness. This event made Goya a more introverted and visionary man. He began having a sympathy for progressive attitudes, social criticism and liberal ideas. During these years, Goya began to break the conventions and art rules, which is reflected in his paintings of this time. It was during this period when he started and series of engravings, the whims are called, which is reflected the tormented personality of Goya and represent the miseries of society.
Finally, the last stage, known for the cruelty of the Spanish-French war of the early nineteenth century, began in 1808 and ended in 1828. The works present scenes of the war against the French and show hungry, mistreated, frightened and desperate people. Such works include the engravings the disasters of war and the paintings the burden of the mamelucos and the executions of the Moncloa. It was during this stage that Goya produced the black paintings, a series of very dark and deeply alarming images, representing his resentment towards humanity, and his fear of death and dementia. These gloomy paintings are the complete opposite of their earliest works that use bright colors and represents pleasant scenes of daily life.
Thus the question is, “why?”The works between each stage are very different and this can be explained by the psychological condition of Goya. Goya not only suffered from two diseases, one of which resulted in deafness, but he was a witness of many Spanish adversities that could have gained a price on his mental well -being. For example, he observed the horrors and barbarism of the Napoleonic wars which Spain devastated. In addition, he lived during the ineptitude of Spanish rulers. There are many surrounding theories the specific diseases that Goya had been able to have possibly, both physical and mental. However, there is a general opinion that Goya had something that impacted his mind and distorted his perception of reality. This impact and distortion of reality is the reason why the dramatic change in his works and the disturbing images during the end of his life.
His deafness robbery his love for music and conversation, making him difficult to communicate. Because of this, Goya began isolating himself from others and the world around him, this is sufficient reason for the movement of live and cheerful paintings towards black and scary paintings. However, experts are right to believe suffering from diseases such as arteriosclerosis, typhoid fever, rheumatic problems, partial paralysis, saturnism and syphilis to name some. The fact that he writes about his fragile health in several letters, most of his children did not live very long and his contemporaries described him in very bleak terms everything support the case that he was a sick man by far of his life. Body disease leads to mind disease. This thought is supported by the belief that he could have had depression, schizophrenia, bipolarity and insomnia. His struggles with his physical health and the state of Spain in terms of rulers and wars caused his mind to get worse. His depression with the dethroning of Carlos IV, the collapse of the aristocracy, its physical hurts, its mental suffering due to envy, setbacks in his career, his love in Duchess of Alba, and the loss of his children everything could contribute to fragilityof your mental state.
The impact that his mind had on his imagination and in his art was very powerful. Works such as whims and dreams have little contact with external reality. They represent inner experiences of Goya, and align with the idea that he has schizophrenia or was psychotic. His career with periods of deprivation, exhaustion and hallucinatory periods align with these conditions also. The combination of pessimism, concern with cruelty, pain and hopelessness are characteristic of depression. Darkness and night in their works are aligned with fantasies that accompany insomnia. But exhaustion found expression. The possible schizophrenia allowed him to live and paint in fantasy. The characteristics of depression in his art gave the ability to show physical suffering and moral degradation, the thing that Goya believes was the root of human nature. His disease activated him penetrating surfaces and evoking the world within him at the same time in the world outside. Psychological diseases and states combine the tensions of the world around him.
Obviously all of his tragedies occurred during his entire life. This explains because his works were not always dark. The turning point was his deafness and shifts, his isolation, later in his life. At first, Goya was enjoying new success, happy to be the painter for the royal and happy family when the state of Spain was not in chaos, the reason that his works were more optimistic and colorful. It was not even their diseases and depression that his style changed dramatically. Due to his conditions, Goya changed his subjects and environment of his works at the same time encouraged morbid thoughts. These are the reasons that Goya’s mental health had the greatest impact on the styles of his art than anything.
Works cited and consulted
- Glendinning, Nigel. Goya and His Critics. Yale University Press, 1977.
- Muñoz, Pedro., and Marcelino. Spain: yesterday and today / Pedro M. Muñoz, Marcelino C. frames. two. ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010.
- Schickel, Richard. The World of Goya, 1746-1828. New York, Time-Life Books, 1968.
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