Francisco Goya Timeline

At some time between late 1792 and early 1793, a severe and undiagnosed illness left Goya deaf, after which his work became progressively darker and more pessimistic in tone.

While convalescing between 1793 and 1794, Goya completed a set of eleven small pictures painted on tin that marked a significant change in the tone and subject matter of his art, drawing from the dark and dramatic realms of fantasy and nightmare.

In 1799, Goya published 80 Caprichos prints, a series of aquatinted etchings depicting "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society" and the prejudices and deceitful practices made usual by custom, ignorance, or self-interest.

Image source: Los caprichos

In 1807, Napoleon led the French army into the Peninsular War against Spain, and the French army invaded Spain in 1808. The conflict's violence would profoundly shape Goya's darkest works.

Image source: Peninsular War

In 1808, all of Godoy's property was seized by Ferdinand VII after his fall from power and exile, and in 1813 the Inquisition confiscated Goya's Maja paintings as 'obscene', returning them in 1836 to the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

The middle series of The Disasters of War (plates 48 to 64) record the effects of the famine that hit Madrid in 1811–12 before the city was liberated from the French, while the final 17 plates reflect liberals' bitter disappointment at the rejection of the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

Image source: The Disasters of War

Goya's wife Josefa died in 1812. By that time, he was painting The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808, and preparing the series of etchings later known as The Disasters of War.

After the restoration of Ferdinand VII in 1814, Goya denied any involvement with the French. His paintings The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808 powerfully depict the Dos de Mayo Uprising and its brutal suppression, revealing thoughts he did not speak publicly.

Image source: The Third of May 1808

Ferdinand VII returned to Spain in 1814, but relations with Goya were not cordial. Art historians assume Goya felt alienated from the reactionary social and political trends that followed the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy.

Image source: Ferdinand VII

Goya's works from 1814 to 1819 are mostly commissioned portraits, but also include the altarpiece of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina for the Cathedral of Seville, the print series La Tauromaquia depicting scenes from bullfighting, and probably the etchings of Los Disparates.

Image source: La Tauromaquia

Goya's late period culminates with the Black Paintings of 1819–1823, applied in oil on the plaster walls of his house the Quinta del Sordo (House of the Deaf Man), where, disillusioned by political and social developments in Spain, he lived in near isolation.

Image source: Black Paintings

Leocadia Weiss, Goya's maid and companion, younger by 35 years, bore a daughter, Rosario, in 1814. Separated from her husband Isidore Weiss since 1811, she stayed with Goya in his Quinta del Sordo villa and may have been his lover.

Image source: Leocadia Zorrilla

Goya abandoned Spain in 1824 to retire to the French city of Bordeaux, accompanied by his much younger maid and companion, Leocadia Weiss, who may have been his lover.

Following a stroke that left him paralyzed on his right side, Goya died and was buried on 16 April 1828 at the age of 82, closing the life of one of Spain's greatest artists.

Although Goya did not make his intentions known when creating The Disasters of War, the series was not published until 1863, 35 years after his death, and is viewed by art historians as a visual protest against the violence of war and repression.

Around 1874, 50 years after Goya's death, the Black Paintings were taken down from the walls of the Quinta del Sordo and transferred to canvas support by owner Baron Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger.

Among the 20th-century painters influenced by Goya are the Spanish masters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, who drew influence from Los Caprichos and Goya's Black Paintings, extending his legacy into modern art.

The Spanish composer Enrique Granados wrote a suite for solo piano in 1911 based on Goya's paintings called Goyescas, and later wrote an opera of the same name based on the suite.

Image source: Goyescas

In 1919, Goya's body was re-interred in the Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid, the chapel whose cupola he had painted with luminous frescoes in 1798.

The Naked Maja (1958), directed by Henry Koster, was a Hollywood film depicting Goya's life and his relationship with the model of his famous painting, bringing the artist's story to a wide audience.

Image source: The Naked Maja (film)

Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment (German: Goya – oder der arge Weg der Erkenntnis) is a 1971 East German drama film directed by Konrad Wolf, dramatizing the painter's life and artistic development.

Image source: Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment

In the 21st century, American postmodern painters such as Michael Zansky and Bradley Rubenstein draw inspiration from "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters" (1796–98) and Goya's Black Paintings. Zansky's "Giants and Dwarf Series" (1990–2002) of large-scale paintings and wood carvings uses imagery from Goya.

In 2024, an extensive exhibition of Goya's etchings was held at the Norton Simon Museum in Southern California, continuing the artist's enduring influence on art lovers and scholars.

Image source: Norton Simon Museum