Culture Whisper Review: Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album, Courtauld ★★★★★
Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album, Courtauld: monstrous nightmares and leering old crones come to life at this fantastic new exhibition
Francisco Goya (1746-1828) Nightmare, c. 1816-20, Brush, black and grey ink, 264 x 181 mm, The Morgan Library and Museum, New York
Francisco Goya really is the master of things that go bump in the night. The unprecedented albums on display at the new Courtauld Gallery, London exhibition are a harrowing insight into the nightmares of his twisted imagination. And we just couldn't get enough.
Francisco Goya biography
The famed Spanish court painter was at the height of his power in 1783, when he began to craft 8 albums of some 550 drawings. Having gone completely deaf after a terrible illness, Goya was determined to prove his skills had not waned. A snapshot of the results is on display in the fabulous new Courtauld Gallery Goya exhibition, where nightmarish old crones and haggard figures stumble across the pages of his folio drawings.
Francisco Goya, (1746- 1828), The sleep of reason produces monsters, c. 1797-98, British Museum, London.
Other Goya artist drawings
Other famous drawings from the Capricho series and Black Border album introduce the exhibition and Goya’s fascination with human frailties. Starring in the Caprichos series (1797-8) of 18 aquatints is the famous The sleep of reason produces monsters, seen here in a rare bound edition. A swarm of owls and bats surround a bent figure in sleep, the monstrous forces of his nightmares rising around him. Another drawing, which foreshadows many of the themes in the Witches and Old Women album, is the absurd old woman, preening herself before a mirror in Until Death (1797-9). As the vain old crone puckers up in front of her mirror, the maid titters behind her back.
Several works from the Inquisition album (1808-14) also offer a striking look at Goya’s nightmarish visions of abuse and torture. In These Witches Will Tell, a naked hag devours snakes as she floats through the air, a powerful example of the role of witchcraft in Goya’s imagination.
But are these nightmarish images meant to terrify our dreams? Or teach us a lesson? This exhibition of Goya’s finest drawings will certainly haunt our sleep this spring.
Francisco Goya biography
The famed Spanish court painter was at the height of his power in 1783, when he began to craft 8 albums of some 550 drawings. Having gone completely deaf after a terrible illness, Goya was determined to prove his skills had not waned. A snapshot of the results is on display in the fabulous new Courtauld Gallery Goya exhibition, where nightmarish old crones and haggard figures stumble across the pages of his folio drawings.
Francisco Goya, (1746- 1828), The sleep of reason produces monsters, c. 1797-98, British Museum, London.
Other Goya artist drawings
Other famous drawings from the Capricho series and Black Border album introduce the exhibition and Goya’s fascination with human frailties. Starring in the Caprichos series (1797-8) of 18 aquatints is the famous The sleep of reason produces monsters, seen here in a rare bound edition. A swarm of owls and bats surround a bent figure in sleep, the monstrous forces of his nightmares rising around him. Another drawing, which foreshadows many of the themes in the Witches and Old Women album, is the absurd old woman, preening herself before a mirror in Until Death (1797-9). As the vain old crone puckers up in front of her mirror, the maid titters behind her back.
Several works from the Inquisition album (1808-14) also offer a striking look at Goya’s nightmarish visions of abuse and torture. In These Witches Will Tell, a naked hag devours snakes as she floats through the air, a powerful example of the role of witchcraft in Goya’s imagination.
But are these nightmarish images meant to terrify our dreams? Or teach us a lesson? This exhibition of Goya’s finest drawings will certainly haunt our sleep this spring.
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