Saturn Devouring One of His Sons (1821-1823)
What I find to be important in Goya’s work and specifically Saturn Devouring One of His Sons, is his use of monstrous figures in art to mock and call attention to flaws his society and culture. He did this in his other black paintings and left behind a primeval politcal cartoon that lashed out against the era it was made in. Like Maria de Zayas and Luis VĂ©lez, Goya is looking at his own society, finding problems, and using monsters to help crystallize and show the errors. The only shame is that these paintings remained in his house and only became widely viewable once the intended audience had vanished. But Goya’s use of monsters expands on our understanding in class. Beyond capturing the unknown, Goya’s monsters captured the known and interrogated it to show the monstrosity of the institutions and bureaucracies of the time. Goya’s other “black paintings” and his “disasters of war” all fabulously convey the feelings of monstrosity and use it like a razors edge to dissect his society.