BellaOnline Forums Education Art Appreciation Goya Painting - Don Manuel Osorio de Zuniga

Yes, that one is HUGELY regarded. It's a wonderful piece. Sad, upsetting, but wrenchingly, sensitively rendered.

I guess i should talk about that one over in that thread. LOL. later. Thanks for adding it.

Goya's Saturn Devouring His Children is also rather seminal, and completely disturbing. [Shudder]

Jilly, although it is disturbing, "Saturn Devourning his Children" is an extremely moving piece. Of all the pieces I viewed in the Prado in Madrid (at 19), I remember that one most vividly. Goya had a long career that spanned a lifetime of changing media and styles - a reflection of his lifetime as an artist. He painted portraits of the royal family, designed tapestries, did a series on the horrors of the Napoleonic War and the black period, etc. True artists infuse their artwork with their own soul, and this may be why "Saturn" is so gut-wrenching. At the time he painted "Saturn", Goya had suffered a serious illness that rendered him deaf, and left him with nightmares and a feeling of isolation. There are many interpretations of his intentions with doing such a work, and only he truly knows whether the horror he portrayed was intentional or the act of a "crazy man."

Like it or not, truly great art evokes emotion, whether in the visual medium, the auditory, or the kinesthetic realm. That is the opinion held by many, but your opinion about art may be totally different.

I do agree with you that you cannot "hold" art on a website, unless, of course, it is designed in the web medium for that purpose. Great art needs to be appreciated in the real, physical sense for the layers of paint, the textures, the topographic surfaces, how it changes under different light, or what you see from different angles. The web cannot portray that, any more than a film can give us back a person who has passed away.

Carolyn, that is so true about needing to see art in larger formats. Even a nice huge slide in an art history class cannot compare to the real thing. For example, Caravaggio's works in Rome brought me to a transcendent state. Luminous. Even sensual. Bernini must be seen in 3-D to be fully appreciated. The Sistine Chapel frescoes are astounding in person, even though it really, really hurts your neck to view the ceiling ones!

I am not dissing the Saturn work at all. It's truly moving and you can sense the horrid desperation. But I would not want that work hanging in my house. It would destroy my personal peace.

And right, i am not saying he doesn't have more peaceful stuff either, just making a point about Goya's seminal works.

Different artists expressed their pain in their own ways. Whereas Van Gogh was also a very disturbed individual, he has a body of work I personally am very sympathetic to. I LIKE viewing his seminal stuff. Some of his pieces are sad but I would hang them in my home.

Yep, everyone's art mileage will vary, too. And also change over our own life events, depending on what speaks to us at the time.

I can just imagine how you felt in Rome! Caravaggio was such a master in the use of chiaroscuro...and can you imagine the love-hate emotions Michelangelo must have had with his work in the Sistine Chapel? "Aaah! I just got paint in my eyes!" and "I've got to stop laying down on the job. My back is killin' me!"

How do you feel about works by Pollack and Miro, Chagall or Jasper Johns? I love MOMA in NYC...yet I know many people who do not consider that "art", and only give validity to the old classics, like those you experienced in Italy.

OK if you guys haven't posted it already, I'll start a new thread on Saturn Devouring his Children

Sorry that was me Lisa posting that.