author
Francisco Goya
1746–1828
A court painter with a sharp eye and a fearless streak, he captured both the splendor and the darkness of his age. His work moves from elegant royal portraits to unsettling visions that still feel startlingly modern.
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About the author
Born in Fuendetodos, Spain, in 1746, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes became one of the most important Spanish artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He worked as a painter and printmaker, and his career stretched from tapestry designs and society portraits to deeply personal and haunting late works.
Goya rose to prominence in Madrid and eventually served the Spanish court, painting members of the royal family and leading figures of his time. But his art never stayed purely formal. Alongside official commissions, he created prints and paintings that observed superstition, violence, injustice, and human folly with unusual honesty.
In his later years, especially after illness and during the turmoil of war and political upheaval, his work grew darker and more inward. Pieces such as The Third of May 1808, the Disasters of War prints, and the so-called Black Paintings helped make him a bridge between the old masters and modern art. He died in Bordeaux, France, in 1828.