Goya's Dark Vision

Francisco Goya began as a conventional court painter but transformed into one of art's most disturbing visionaries. His Black Paintings — painted directly onto the walls of his house — include Saturn Devouring His Son, an image so brutal it still shocks two centuries later.

Goya's late work anticipated Expressionism by a century. His technique — slashing brushstrokes, distorted figures, oppressive darkness — communicated psychological horror with an immediacy that polished academic painting could never match.