GOYA IS DEPICTING US Our world witnessed a great number of shocking events in the 18th century.

These events have had an incredible effect on the next centuries which formed the shape of todays world. Many new ideas appeared and debates lead to conflicts, rebellions, wars, and massacres. Fate of many nations changed dramatically. These ideas resulted in revolutions in many countries including France, and the USA. Much scientific development took place during this century like steam engine, smallpox vaccination, new types of press, and steamboat. Moreover, with the new places discovered and products of arts like literature, music, and painting existing knowledge of the people increased rapidly. As a result of these improvements mass production started to get widespread resulting in industrial revolution. Many philosophers start to oppose the pressure from the Christian church and favored secular and freer life-styles. Although many countries adopted these ideas firstly, they decided to stick to the use of religion for governmental purposes as they see what happened in France: revolution. All these changes altered the power balance in the world. The countries gaining power started to invade the weaker ones. On the borders of equally powerful countries like France and England long-lasting wars took place1. Many people suffered and died during these invasions and wars putting masses into a great misery. Nations started to search for new places to occupy outside of Europe like America and India. New problems related to the slavery started to appear: while many people opposed it, those getting profit supported and exploited it. Considering all these conflicting events and ideas it is possible to imagine the confusion in the minds of the people. As the concepts and conditions were in a rapid change it was highly difficult to determine which part to support. It was obvious that in the presence of the newly

HART 411/521 Reader

emerging ideas about individual freedom it was impossible for the church to retain its heavy influence on the people. However, it was also obvious that when people get rid of these kinds of influences, the result would be rebellions, chaos, and revolutions. Both the nature itself and the nature of human beings were in a change faster than ever before, and keeping up with this change was nearly impossible. Francisco Jose de Goya, a Spanish painter was born in this era of turmoil and confusion in Fuendotodos, a region near Spain-France border2. Not only the era, in which he was born, but also the place he spent his early life gives clues about his future life and personality. Later he witnessed a period when the perception of artist in the public was in transition. The notion of good artist was shifting from being loyal to the country and the king to supporting the people of the whole world with the destruction of nationalist ideas and introduction of postmodern era. With the French invasion of Spain he gets into deep dilemmas. He believed that the French will brought what they have obtained through the revolution; ideas of freedom, modernity, and democracy. However, he had an oath to the king for loyalty and he witnessed the cruelty of the French during the invasion which he depicted in an astonishing way in one of the most prominent paintings, The third of May. He was one of the supporter of the French Revolution and Spain court, which stand exactly opposite of each other3. Moreover, an illness made him deaf and this situation caused isolation from other people. This disability brought many problems especially psychological ones. This isolation made him elaborate on French Revolution and its philosophy. With the French invasion he chose to be stand in the French side after an extensive questioning process. He served the French court but never accept the treatments of the French to the local rioters. He depicted the riots and the ways in which the French stopped them in

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HART 411/521 Reader Lecture notes

The second of May and The third of May paintings. After the return of Spanish king Ferdinand VII he returned to the Spanish court but the king did not welcomed him and he continued his life in isolation from other people. He spent his last years in voluntary exile in France. Seeing all the factors above, it is not surprising that holding the position of court painter and intellectual in the society as well as experiencing all the turmoil of such a chaotic era dragged an artist into deep dilemmas and confusions. In his article An Enigma at the Limits of Reason and Irrationality: Goyas Prints Hayri Esmer, states that Goyas mature period works reflect his ideas during this period (p. 2). He witnessed Spanish culture, bull fights, Spanish court life, enlightenment ideas, French invasion, and violence of this invasion, all of which have conflicting features. While Spanish culture contains bull fights, violence, and loyalty to the throne, enlightenment ideas support peace, humanistic approaches, and freedom. However, the people who were believed to bring enlightenment, the French, had brought more violence and fight. According to the author the reason why his works are appreciated today is that with his magnificent observation skills he can connect all these conflicting ideas and convey this connection in a satirical manner (Esmer, 2008). The author emphasizes that when Goya created Caprices he was 53 years old. This age signifies his maturity. His thoughts were independent of royalty and social pressure. He could state his criticism against the court and people freely. According to the author this courage stems from experience and awareness. He reflects what is in the society without adding and subtracting any part. He paints the reality in such a manner that his works can be considered as documents about the period. His aim is to show what is going wrong and make people think about possible solutions (Esmer, 2008).

Goya connects different parts of a whole to present an opportunity for a detailed inspection of concepts. For example in his series he depicts war, authority, and famine to show that they constitute a whole. When one comes the others are inevitable. In this way he makes people see the relation and have a holistic perspective, which makes his works more persuading. To achieve these he benefits only lines and stains. Just by using lines he forms his characters, shapes, and psychological effects. He combines all the characteristics of the techniques with his experiences. In this way he can add a romantic excitement and a psychological depth into his images. These images on a dark and gloomy background reflect intense emotions (Esmer, 2008). The artist establishes a strong relationship between the actual problem and his concerns which are reflected in an intense visuality. When Goya was court painter he showed the court members with all their reality. Unlike his predecessors and successors, he did not add extra magnificence to the paintings. While painting all the luxury of the aristocrats he did not changed their faces and the way they look. In this way he reflects the conflict between their lifestyle and their inner world. Esmer states that these paintings signals the turmoils like famine, war, and invasion that are approaching (2008). When Goya started to criticize aristocracy, authority, and traditions he received pressure. As a result he had to withdraw his paintings from magazines and newspapers and present them to the king to secure his sons future. This behavior reflects his dilemmas. He is in -between his ideas and career. However, he continues to criticize religion, court, aristocracy, and traditions. In several paintings he uses animals like donkey, owl, and bat to represent aristocrats, kings, and the church. Despite the pressure from the authority he continues to publish such works. However, at the same time he continues to serve to the court.

Later he witnessed the invasion and all its violence which was predicted in his former paintings. In his depiction of war scenes he had a different point of view than former painters. He did not draw the victories of the authority; instead he showed what happens to the people during fights. He painted killers and victims reflecting all the horror, fear, blood, and inhumanity. Like The third of May many of his paintings include scenes from executions and fights. He shows all the emotions of a victim in his face. Goya reflects the reality in these paintings; he does not add unnatural items. In this way he presents himself as a witness and increases the effectiveness of his paintings. According to the author all this violence shows that revolution and enlightenment did not changed the nature of the human beings. The painter indicates that whatever we have we use it to destroy the others (Esmer, 2008). As our nature have not changed since that time and we continue to use the technology to destroy others his paintings are still interested. Violence appears not only in war paintings but also in the painting of Spanish culture. Goya depicted bull fights which were used for the training of aristocrats and entertainment of the people. He had an interest for bull fights. However, to him they are not different than wars; matadors fight against a powerful enemy to kill it. Goya emphasizes this side of the bull fights. He had a dilemma in this topic too. While seeing bull fights as entertainment, he also criticized them by showing the horror and violence in them overtly (Esmer, 2008). After losing his hearing ability he lived in an isolated place and started to paint the walls of his house. He had health problems. Spain was turning back to its structure before the invasion: the king had come back and the authority on the people was getting stronger. The techniques and colors he used reflect the gloom and misery of both his and the societys. From this point on his works reflects the combination of his troubles in his inner world and the problems of the society. He continued to criticize the problems in the society. In the paintings depicting

nightmares he also criticized himself because he was on the side of the authority when he was the court painter (Esmer, 2008). In his article The Revulsions of Goya: Subconscious Communications in the Etchings (1946) Frederick Wight discusses several series of Goyas works including The Caprices, The Disaster of War, and The Proverbs in relation to Goyas personality, his societys conditions, and characteristics of the era. Goya had belief in revolution until he saw the violence during French invasion. However, unlike other intellectuals despite rejecting the revolution he did not welcome the next centurys ideas. He was committed to his people so he did not adopt an ideology; he tried to show mere reality, the state of people, and the authority. The author mentions two pre-supposition for examining an artist and his works. One is that art is an expression of emotions stored in the subconscious of the artist. The second one is that the major emotion in an artists works has its roots in the early period of the artist and this emotion blends with the affairs of the later periods in the works of the artist. The affairs of the contemporary time may not be present in all works of the artist but the major emotion is always there (Wight, 1946). The author presents the fact that the first work of the Caprices is Goyas self portrait as an evidence for these presuppositions. Even in the depictions of the mere reality of war scene depiction Goya reflects his subconscious hunger for violence and fight. The author emphasizes that Goyas characters appear repeatedly in different works. He uses women in different works. Although they have different faces, basically they represent the same thing. Animals and fantastic images like combinations of different creatures are present in many works. Even though in some works wolves and in some others dogs appear, to the artist they are the same. The sequence these images appear has an implication: the author begins with the images of his time and goes toward the images of his childhood like bulls and

cannibals. There are two basic emotions behind these images: the fear of being eaten and sensation of flight, which are mostly felt during childhood and preserved in subconscious (Wight, 1946). In the discussion of The Disaster of War Wight introduces Goyas family whose members were quite opposite characters. In such an environment a child can develop the feeling of dread easily. His depictions of war scenes have their roots in the similarity between his dread of childhood and the dread of the people caused by French invasion. The author emphasizes that in the war scenes both the killers and victims look like puppets. Moreover, in some works of this series children appear as killers or victims (Wight, 1946). These details indicate that he combines the feelings evoked by the war and his childhood fears. In the depictions of war Goya reflects the scenes in which animals and people are attacking and eating each other. For Goya this is the basic conflict, rivalry among the people and the desire to destroy the others. He experienced this rivalry when he was a child in the conflict between his parents. Therefore, these scenes remind him of the troubles of his childhood and make him feel the desire for violence (Wight, 1946). He and his characters stand in front of the violence like soldiers altogether. According to the author in Goyas series The Proverbs he criticizes the nature of human beings and the mistakes stemming from this nature. However, in the personal level they reflect the mistakes of the artist which are the same as the others. He portrays his remorse for the fact that he praised his mistakes in the past. Unlike The Disaster of War in The Proverbs he depicts all the human beings as victims. He emphasizes the weakness of the women in many works and the mis-behaviors towards them. However, the committers of these behaviors are not guilty; they are the victims of other affairs too. Although there is less violence in this series, they reflect more sorrow and pessimism (Wight, 1946).

The memories from his parents are obvious. His mother and father were not suitable for each other but they married and had children. They started to get problems later. Both of them were unhappy. Although there was no violence, they were suffering. This situation made the children problematic too. They were victimized by the mistakes of others who were also victims of others (Wight, 1946). Therefore, to Goya everyone can be victim without anyone to be blamed. The author combines the inspirations of Goya for his works. He indicates how different periods of the artist are connected to each other. The relationship between his mother, his father, and his siblings appears in most of the paintings. Their effects on his subconscious are evoked by the scenes of war, dilemmas caused by revolution, and bull fights (Wight, 1946). Considering the fact that all the relationship among the family members, wars, and revolutions are affected by the same dynamics of the society, it is not surprising to find such connections in his works. Claudio Veliz in her article, The enduring deception of Francesco Goya (2006), examines Goyas art from a different point of view. She argues that Goya used his works in accordance with the changing conditions of the time. With his depictions Goya achieved to survive and have higher ranks in the society during French and Spanish reign. She points out the creation date of The Third of May, 1814, when French authority was withdrawing from Spain leaving the throne to the Spanish court. According to Veliz, Goya formed this work to show the Spanish guard that although he had been awarded with Royal Order of Spain by Joseph I, he did not supported the French invasion. With the help of these strategies, his genius, and the mistakes of the Spanish court he was not affected from the political changes. The author mentions about the political and social structure of the era. There was a close relationship between France and Spain. Enlightenment ideas of France were very popular

among Spanish aristocrats. France was widening its borders with invasions and some parts of the border between Spain and France were removed. Because Goya moved from his Basque country to the Madrid where he met many aristocrats he was familiar with the French ideas. Therefore, the author states that his works portray the aristocrats of Spain, who mostly speak French, and prefer French enlightenment rather than Spanish traditions, not the whole Spanish society (Veliz, 2006). Goya had close friends from his aristocratic environment. Several of them supported French Revolution and helped the process. They were prompted by Joseph I after the revolution. The author argues that Goya was affected their success of getting important positions in French court, at whom the whole Spanish aristocrats were admiring. Therefore, in 1808 he was confused and chose to be in the side of the French to get the chance of achieving what his friends had achieved. Moreover, the rioters against the French were mostly illiterate peasants organized by the church, who Goya had criticized to be oppressive and ignorant. On the other side there were admired and enlightened Frenchmen (Veliz, 2006). Goya made a decision under these conditions. The author argues that Goyas works which are seen as against the French invasion actually reflect the violence caused by the Spanish guerillas. The depictions of murders are similar to the methods of guerillas. Moreover, the presence of priests in some of the paintings shows that religion and Spanish tradition caused blood-shed. Veliz opposes the ideas that Goya supported French enlightenment until 3rd of May. At that point he changed his mind and started to support the Spanish guerillas. To her a statement like upon seeing the violence caused by these enlightened people Goya lost his belief in the French superiority and formed The Third of May to show the destruction caused by the French does not reflect the reality. She discusses that it cannot be a coincide that this work

emerges in 1814 when the defeat of French army was obvious and Ferdinand VII was about to return to the throne. He used his genius to survive and find a place in the new political structure. Moreover, Goya chose to spend his last years in France, even though he was not invited or exiled (Veliz, 2006). The author emphasizes that Goya never give up supporting French enlightenment even after the horrific 3rd of May, it was just a deception. All in all the author states that as Goya was not a politician but an artist he cannot be condemned for this behavior. He had to guarantee his future and struggle for his survival. Unlike the other authors above Veliz adopts a sociological approach to Goyas dilemmas. She emphasizes the details leading us to the point that most of Goyas work and ideology was for his own benefits, not to merely show the dilemmas of people or brutality of the war. He supports French ideology whatever it leads to. Moreover, he does not blame only the French for the violence and the murders resulting from the war. Instead of evaluating the works of the artist the Veliz examines them in the social context of the time and their effects on the artists life. From this respect the author brings a different point of view which is quite helpful for understanding Goya. The articles that are mentioned above approaches the works of Goya from different aspects. Esmers point of view is mainly Goyas ideas about the enlightenment, Spanish culture, and war while Wight examines the connection between his ideas and subconscious and the reflection of this connection on to the canvas. Veliz adopts a quite different perspective and questions the implications of Goyas works for his own life and social status. They attribute Goyas dilemmas to different sources. Although these sources seem unrelated, they are connected indirectly. First of all it is obvious that Goyas ideas about the culture and lifestyle of his time are affected by his childhood experiences. For example, he witnessed that both of

his parents were unhappy and there was nobody to be blamed. Likewise, in the SpanishFrench fight there was no guilty side for him. His dilemmas stemming from the difference between Spanish and French culture are the same as those stemming from choosing a side for survival. His commitment to enlightenment ideas forced him to support French intervention. Similarly, seeing his friends getting higher ranks in French court formed the same effect. However, French invasion resulted in violence and death of many innocent people. At the same time Spanish court was returning and he had to seem anti-French to protect his status. The combination of these factors made him change his side, but we cannot know which one was the dominant for sure. During his childhood he was exposed to the examples of rivalry in the society. The relationship between his parents, bull fights, and the fight among animals were similar to his later observations like the power balance in Spanish court and French invasion4. All this troubles evoked his memories deep in his subconscious and he reflected the combination in his work. Moreover, he was in a fight too. He had to be in the side of the powerful one to survive. He had seen this since his childhood so he used his genius to won this rivalry. All of the three authors agree on the fact that Goyas works are appreciated today, nearly 200 years later from their creation. When Goya was reflecting his dilemmas onto the canvas or the walls, he was actually painting the dilemmas and emotions of all the human beings. Whether to support the traditions or the new ideologies, have confused many people including aristocrats, kings, and public since Goyas time. People witnessed the use of improvement to destroy others many times. Wars in the name of bringing modernity to the uncivilized people resulted in misery and massacres many times. We saw that bringing democracy to Iraq, which was supported by many, brought blood-shed, violence, and chaos. In The Third of May

Lecture notes

Goya reflected not only the emotions of Spanish rioters, but also the atomic bomb in Japan, blood in Korea, children in Palestine, and corpses in Iraq. Therefore, we still admire his works and they are exhibited all over the world. We see ourselves, the extend of our desire to kill the others in them. Goyas works reflect the fight in our inner world. They show the fight among our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. How our present decisions are affected by the childhood memories and existing conditions are illustrated. Mental processes in decision making are summarized. It is possible to see Goyas mental processes in his works. For example, in The Third of May the childhood images of puppets, everybodys being victim and desire to be accepted by Spanish court appear altogether. He allows us to see his dilemmas, compare them with ours, and see the similarities. Therefore, the similarities among the great artists like Goethe, Picasso, Beethoven, and Goya are not surprising. All of them tell the human beings and their works are appreciated, discussed, and used for self-understanding today and in the future. REFERENCES
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Esmer, H. (2008). An Enigma at the limits of reason and irrationality: goyas prints. Sanat ve Tasar m Dergisi, 2, 81-102.

Wight, F. S. (1946). The Revulsions of goya: subconscious communications in the etchings. The Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism, 5(1), 1-29.

Veliz, C. (2006, October 01). The Enduring deception of francisco goya. Quadrant, 54-64.