Goya’s black paintings
How does Goya merge these views?
Goya does not entirely align with either view. Innocence does not bring happiness or result in the opportunity to ‘dwell in Eden’. The painting Dog depicts a dog in rising mud, struggling to keep its head above the water. Goya was known to be fond of dogs, but despite that, and despite their innocence, it suffers all the same. Ignorance is depicted in the black paintings, but is not respite, nor perfection. The Duel with Cudgels depicts two men blindly concerned with killing each other in the most savage way. So concerned are they with their actions that they do not seem to notice similar mud rising at their feet, and a towering landscape that seems to threaten to swallow them. This is not the blissful ignorance of the Garden of Eden or the heroic duels in between godlike men in Homer. In his art, Goya straddles the line between these two mythologies to assert his own, a cynical one caused by the many atrocities he has seen. One in which humans are petty and insignificant, and if not actively tormented by the powers above them, they are at least abandoned by them. Another black painting, the Pilgrimage to San Isidro shows an almost endless line of people. Hoffman interprets this to mean that their journey is ceaseless. 2 No amount of suffering for God on
Dog , Francisco Goya
Duel with Cudgels , Francisco Goya
2 Hofmann 2003: 237.
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