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Goya's Dark Masterpiece Analyzed

Francisco Goya painted Saturn Devouring His Son between 1819-1823 as part of his Black Paintings series on the walls of his farmhouse. The Black Paintings contrasted with earlier bright paintings on the walls and depicted darker, more violent and disturbing subject matter, reflecting Goya's increasing depression and paranoia. The painting depicts the Greek myth of the titan Saturn eating his son due to a prophecy that one of his sons would overthrow him, and uses dark colors and Saturn's distorted, anxious appearance to vividly represent the grim story.

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Airon Keith Along
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354 views3 pages

Goya's Dark Masterpiece Analyzed

Francisco Goya painted Saturn Devouring His Son between 1819-1823 as part of his Black Paintings series on the walls of his farmhouse. The Black Paintings contrasted with earlier bright paintings on the walls and depicted darker, more violent and disturbing subject matter, reflecting Goya's increasing depression and paranoia. The painting depicts the Greek myth of the titan Saturn eating his son due to a prophecy that one of his sons would overthrow him, and uses dark colors and Saturn's distorted, anxious appearance to vividly represent the grim story.

Uploaded by

Airon Keith Along
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Airon Along

Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya

Historical Details

Saturn Devouring His Son was made by Francisco Goya between the years
1819 and 1823. This painting is part of a series of paintings called the “Black
Paintings.” This series were painted on the walls of his farmhouse, which is now
known as the “Villa of the Deaf Man.” The walls of that farmhouse were originally
painted over with bright and inspiring images before being superimposed by the
Black Paintings, which in contrast were darker, violent, and disturbing. The reason
for his creation of the series was rumored to be due to his increasing depression and
paranoia. Since Goya neither talked about the paintings nor gave them names, the
names of the works in the series were chosen by the people based on its contents
over the years after his death.

Reference:

Anonymous. (n.d.). Saturn Devouring his Son (1819-23). Retrieved from


ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ART EDUCATION: http://www.visual-arts-
cork.com/paintings-analysis/saturn-devouring-his-son.htm

Analysis

This painting by Francisco Goya depicts Saturn, a Greek titan, eating his son.
This scene connects to the story in Greek mythology about the time when Saturn
came to know about a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of his sons.
The prophecy haunted him to madness which led him to devour every one of his
sons just to prevent the impending coup d'état.

Diving into the details, the dark-colored theme of the painting candidly
reflected the grim and violent story of Saturn. In this painting, the background is
almost pure black, and Saturn’s body is somewhat distorted. This could be a
reference, once again, to the dark and twisted story. The details in Saturn’s expertly
portrayed the state of his mind after knowing the prophecy. The way his eyes and
eyebrows were painted depicts extreme worry or anxiety of what was to come.
Furthermore, it also described his gradual descension out of sanity. The darker
shade around the mouth could possibly be dried blood, which would mean that son
in the painting was not the first victim of Saturn’s rampage. Two of the few lighter
shades of the painting are located in Saturn’s knuckles and the dead son’s back. The
light colors of the son’s back suggests that the body has lost most of its blood, which
is why it turned pale. The paleness in Saturn’s knuckles is indicative of the excessive
force used to grip the body. This could be the result of Saturn’s fear and anxiety,
which made him become more tense. Saturn’s hair is painted in a grayish color,
which indicates old age, and is probably in connection to how he easily lost his
sanity.
Overall, the painting fits the general theme of the series Black Paintings. Like
all artworks, paintings depict the painters current state, be it mental or physical. As
for Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son, as well as the Black Paintings series,
could truly be a representation of his depression and paranoia.

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