On Art: Season 12

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
The Naked Maja
Oil on canvas
1795–1800
The Prado Museum, Madrid

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Saturn
Oil on canvas
1820–1823
The Prado Museum, Madrid

S12E1. Vibeke Holst-Andersen

I chose two pieces of art, both by Goya: The Naked Maja, and Saturn. The first one is Maja painted while he was doing well in social life, a young man, highly regarded as a painter. It's beautiful, romantic, realistic also. Fast forward 20 years later, Goya was sick, deaf, and impacted by war. He was alone and lonely. He painted in his house very, very dark paintings. Among others, of Saturn eating his own son. Oh, God, it's so terrifying. But it's also very impactful. During that period, he turned from Realism into starting the movement of being a Surrealist. When he painted in his house these dark features, it was not something he saw and painted, it was from his inside. That was later known to be the ancestor of Surrealism. The transition that a person can go through in 20 years and change completely, it made a big impact on me, I will never forget. I have always been blessed with good mental health, and I have struggled to understand what is depression really like. And that is where art comes in. That painting really showed me.