Francisco de Goya

The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters

Clasificación
The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1796 - 1797
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
230 x 155 mm
Técnica y soporte
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
17 Dec 2010 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
(D. 4162)
Inscripciones

80 (in pen. recto, top right-hand corner)

Historia

On the origin of this and other preparatory drawings for The Caprices, see the commentary on the first of them, corresponding to Caprice number 1 (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, painter), and on the one corresponding to Caprice 3 (The Coconut is Coming).

Line of provenance of this drawing: Javier Goya; Mariano Goya, 1854; Valentín Carderera, ca. 1861; Mariano Carderera, 1880; Prado Museum, 1886.

Análisis artístico

Preparatory drawing for Caprice 43, The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters, which in turn is based on Dream 1: Universal Language. On the recto is the preparatory drawing for Caprice 6, Nobody Knows Each Other. 

As in the print, Goya is shown seated and reclining on a table, in this case carved with mouldings and with nothing on top of it. His head is also tucked between his arms, although a small part of his face is slightly visible. Next to him, leaning on the seat and on a painter's suitcase, is a copper plate that seems to represent one of his earliest engravings, the equestrian portrait of Margaret of Austria. 

From its head emanates a beam of lightning from which emerge faces and animal and human heads, some of them deformed, laughing and moaning. Among them all is a self-portrait of Goya, with his face almost straight on, which is arranged at an angle to another.

On the right a series of bats fly overhead, above them a dog and part of a donkey's head with its front legs, and, next to Goya, a lynx that has almost disappeared.

Exposiciones
  • The changing image: prints by Francisco de Goya
    Museum of Fine Arts
    1974
    From October to December 1974. Exhibited also at The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, January to March 1975
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • Goya y la Constitución de 1812
    Museo Municipal de Madrid
    Madrid
    1982
    organized by Madrid Town Hall, consultant editor José Manuel Pita Andrade. From December 1982 to January 1983
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Goya: Prophet der Moderne
    Alte Nationalgalerie
    Berlin
    2005
    from July 13th to October 3th 2005. Exhibitied also at the Kunsthistorischemuseum, Vienna, October 18th 2005 to January 8th 2006, consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Madrid
    2019
Bibliografía
  • SÁNCHEZ CANTÓN, Francisco Javier
    Los Caprichos de Goya y sus dibujos preparatorios
    BarcelonaInstituto Amatller de Arte Hispánico
    1949
    p. 87
  • LÓPEZ-REY, José
    Goya’s Caprichos. Beauty, Reason and Caricature
    Nueva JerseyPrinceton University Press
    1953
    p. 200, fig. 173
  • SÁNCHEZ CANTÓN. Francisco Javier
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1954
    n. 42
  • NORDSTRÖM, Folke
    Goya, Saturno y melancolía. Consideraciones sobre el arte de Goya
    StockholmAlquimis & Wiksell
    1962
    p. 116-132, fig. 60
  • CASARIEGO, Rafael
    Goya. Los Caprichos. Colección de ochenta y cinco estampas en las que se fustigan errores y vicios humanos
    MadridEdiciones de Arte y Bibliofilia
    1966
    cat. 43
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 181, cat. 538
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Dibujos de Goya, 2 vols
    BarcelonaNoguer
    1975
    p. 138, cat. 101
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    Los Caprichos de Goya
    col. Serie punto y línea
    BarcelonaGustavo Gili
    1977
    p. 42
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    Goya, dibujos
    MadridSilex
    1980
    pp. 102-103, cat. 26
  • HOFMANN, Werner (ed.)
    Goya, Das Zeitalter de Revolutionen. 1789-1830
    HamburgPrestel-Verlag Münche und Hamburger Kunsthalle
    1980
    p. 61
  • AGULLÓ Y COBO, Mercedes
    MadridAyuntamiento de Madrid
    1982
    p. 98
  • WILSON-BAREU, Juliet
    MadridReal Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
    1992
    p.9, Cat. 5
  • BLAS BENITO, Javier, MATILLA RODRÍGUEZ, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    El libro de los caprichos: dos siglos de interpretaciones (1799-1999). Catálogo de los dibujos, pruebas de estado, láminas de cobre y estampas de la primera edición
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    1999
    p. 239
  • SCHUSTER, Peter-Klaus, SEIPEL, Wilfried y MENA, Manuela B. (editores)
    Dumont
    2005
    pp. 180-181
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 100
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MENA, Manuela B. (comisarios)
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2019
    p. 129
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