“Imprisoned in a tomb of silence, Goya distanced himself from society, becoming bitter and increasingly occupied with his own anxieties and fantasies … His earlier portrayals of terror and violence, pale in comparison to the Black Paintings. Not only because Goya proceeded his time by exploring the human psyche, but because he did not intend for the images to be made public. Goya was able to explore these themes of sorrow, pathos and panic with complete freedom. This is what makes Goya the first modernist of his time.”
—The Darkest Painting Series in the World
Though far from them now in time and space, I still can’t quite shake the impact of these paintings.
Like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Primordially disconcerting. I guess I didn’t realize paintings could stir quite that deep in the pot.
Makes Bosch’s Hell (which I adore) look like an awkward but interesting party.
The reproductions do them no justice.
The thought of living, deaf, surrounded by those images painted on the walls is just plain scary.
On the tip of a globetrotting friend,
we have here in Madrid:
Luncheon at el restaurante mas Antiguo del Mundo,
continually open since 1725.
At some point,
for some length of time,
Goya did the dishes here.
At some point,
for some length of time,
we were here and ate way too much.
Oof!
—laura hohlwein
Flommist Laura Hohlwein is a contemporary abstract surrealist. Copyright © 2018 Laura Hohlwein.
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