Francisco de Goya — When Day Breaks We Will Be Off Print

About Francisco de Goya

Spanish · 1746–1828

Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) was a Spanish artist. Goya trained in Zaragoza before establishing his career in Madrid, eventually working for the Spanish court. A serious illness in the early 1790s left him deaf. His independent prints developed a sharp interest in the tensions between social convention and private imagination. Los Caprichos brings those concerns together in a series that moves between recognisable human behaviour and impossible encounters. The selected images reward reading their titles alongside the gestures and arrangements within the pictures.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: A sleeping figure is surrounded by owls and bats in Goya’s celebrated image from Los Caprichos. The complete historic sheet retains the printed title beneath the scene. They Have Flown: A woman and several shadowy companions rise into the air in this plate from Los Caprichos. Goya combines precise etched figures with an atmosphere of improbable flight. When Day Breaks We Will Be Off: Figures gather beneath a dark, star-filled sky in Goya’s nocturnal scene. Their gestures and closely grouped bodies give the image a tense, theatrical rhythm. Here Comes the Bogeyman: A white-cloaked figure approaches a mother and children in a dim interior. Goya sets the bright, blank shape against closely observed faces and deep surrounding shadow. Hobgoblins: Strange figures gather around a table beneath a barred opening. Goya’s etched lines and soft aquatint shadows bring their faces and gestures into sharp relief.