Character Catalog

A series of 80 satirical prints denouncing superstition, clerical corruption, and the follies of Spanish society. Plate 43, 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters', has become one of the most iconic images in Western art.

A group portrait of the Spanish royal family painted with almost brutal honesty, in which Goya depicts his patrons with a psychological truthfulness that goes far beyond the conventions of official portraiture.

Two paintings depicting the same woman reclining, first nude and then clothed — sensual and scandalous works that led to Goya being summoned before the Spanish Inquisition.

A masterpiece of history painting depicting the execution of Spanish resisters by French soldiers. This landmark canvas ushered in the modern representation of wartime violence and would go on to influence Manet and Picasso.

A series of 82 prints documenting with unprecedented brutality the atrocities of the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon. Considered one of the most powerful anti-war works in the history of art.

One of fourteen 'Black Paintings' painted directly onto the walls of the Quinta del Sordo, depicting the god Saturn consuming his child in a frenzy of terror. An iconic image of madness, destructive power, and old age.

A cartoon for a tapestry intended for the Royal Palace of El Escorial, depicting an elegant and luminous scene of everyday life — a testament to Goya's early period, still rooted in the Rococo tradition before his artistic transformation.

I am unable to see anything at all. I do not know whether it is a cataract or something else, but my sight is so weak that I can barely sign my name.

To occupy my imagination, mortified by the contemplation of my afflictions, and to offset in part the great expenses they have caused me, I set myself to a series of cabinet paintings.

Painting (like poetry) selects from the universal what it deems most suited to its ends; it brings together in a single fantastical figure circumstances and traits that nature has distributed among many.

Sad forebodings of what is to come.

I am old, deaf, lazy, and ignorant in French, but I am so well and so eager to see this world.

Goya's birthplace in 1746, located in the arid and austere region of Aragon. His very modest childhood home has been preserved as a museum.

Goya's official workplace as court painter to Charles III and later Charles IV, where he produced royal portraits and official decorations.

A country house acquired by Goya in 1819, on the banks of the Manzanares River, where he painted the terrifying 'Black Paintings' directly onto the walls. The house was demolished in the late 19th century.

A chapel whose frescoes (1798) were painted entirely by Goya; he is also buried there — though without his head, which was found to be missing when his remains were repatriated.

The city where Goya spent his final years in voluntary exile (1824–1828), surrounded by liberal Spanish friends, continuing to paint and engrave until his death in 1828.

Goya created several monumental frescoes for this basilica in his home region, which brought him national recognition from an early age.