Art Fun Facts: Goya’s Rebellion “La Maja Desnuda/Vestida”

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, known simply as Francisco Goya, has been a main figure in history of Spanish art, bridging the gap between the Spanish standard of painting and the philosophy of modern art movements. Even if a great number of his paintings were commissioned by the Spanish Crown, in his works Goya often embraced a critical perspective about what was going on in his surroundings from a political and social point of view.

Born in 1746, Goya experienced all the profound transformations that Europe was going through at that time, such as the French Revolution or even the Napoleonic Wars. During his lifetime, Spain was a country deeply rooted in the Catholic Church’s principles, profoundly distant from the Enlightenment ideals spreading across the rest of Europe. These ideals emphasized reason, individualism, putting the human being at the centre of the world, contradicting the Church’s pillars based on spiritual and divine authority. Spanish society was, in fact, conservative and largely in tune with the Church believes all along the Inquisition’s control, which persisted until 1834.

With this social context in mind, think about Goya’s courage in portraying something like “The Naked Maja”, which basically represents a woman totally naked, laying on a bed of pillows. I want to believe what some art historians say: this was not just a portrait, but Goya’s challenge to the prevailing moral and artistic censorship imposed by the Church and the state itself.

Consequently, perhaps after realizing the potential repercussions of such a daring artwork, Goya later created “The Clothed Maja”. This version, portraying the same woman but with clothes on, can be seen as a strategic response to the outrage from the Church authorities. By presenting a clothed version, Goya provided a more socially acceptable version of his painting, maybe to mitigate the impact of the social scandal and safeguard his artistic positioning.

The existence of both paintings raises infinite questions about the artist intentions. Although the two paintings can be seen as a profound testimony of the social and moral conflicts of Goya’s time. Through “The Naked Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”, Goya navigated the risky balance between artistic freedom and the constraints of a society still rooted in Church doctrines, making a great statement on the power of art to provoke and challenge cultural boundaries.