Goya: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Prints, Philosophy and Present times
As I think of the haunting “El Sueno de la Razon Produce Monstruos”, I think about the innumerable angles one could take to approach any discussion around it. But, I’ll go slightly stream of consciousness, slightly elaborating on some — related — topics as they come.
See, this piece is rich in association: political, religious, philosophical, psychological, and possibly more. Artistically too, a lot is going on.
In his series Los Caprichos, Francisco de Goya made clever use of 80 prints to aid his commentary on society. Some prints denounce the clergy, matrimony, and other aspects that were crucial for the Spanish community at the time, but mostly, he denounced the lack of rationality, and — like in the print which is the subject of this page — superstition.
You can see all of his strong — and often bizarre and scary — caprichos here: Los caprichos.
The strongest interpretation of n. 43 of the caprichos, is that The Sleep of Reason Creates Monsters is an attack on superstition. In Goya’s visual commentary we see unfolding the story of where Spain was kept behind in the path to Enlightenment. While Europe was taking a stance for science, the separation of Church and State, and freedom, Spain still bowed down…
