Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, 1746–1828). Plate 43 from "Los Caprichos": The sleep of reason produces monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), 1799. Etching, aquatint, Plate: 8 3/8 x 5 15/16 in. (21.2 x 15.1 cm), Sheet: 11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in. (29.5 x 21 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of M. Knoedler & Co., 1918 (18.64(43))
He's not specific about a particular time and place. The human experience transcends through history.
My name is Enrique Chagoya and I am an artist.
I make works that appropriate imagery and I mix them, creating my own language. I have a background in political economy that inspires me to add social content in every work I do. Goya was, for me, my god. I was only a teenager when I discovered The Caprichos. I remember as a student I wanted to buy one but I couldn't afford it, so I did my own versions.
It's really important to see the original work, because even though it's a small scale you still can see a three-dimensional element of the etched line. It's not flat like a reproduction.
The Caprichos are a window to the world of the late 1700s, but once you get into the imagery you start realizing that certain things haven't changed that much. And that's, for me, the genius of Goya. He's not specific about a particular time and place. The human experience transcends through history, but it runs into spirals where you seem to go back to the same place you were before.
This was the last years of the Holy Inquisition. But because Goya still was nervous about it there's a lot of ambiguity, which happens when you are censored. Because the artist has to be smarter than the censors, it's not clear whether he is in favor or against. For me, clearly he's against!
Print 43 is a self-portrait where Goya is having a nightmare, but today's monsters are worse. It's like, global warming, how could we stop it? The bats, the cat, the owls are no longer threatening—in fact, they are mostly endangered species—but still the message is there if we don't wake up. Even though they are metaphorical figures, they represent very real social situations: anything from greed, from apocalyptic fears, corruption, how people disguise themselves to look better than what they are. And we are seeing ourselves reflected in them because that's us, that's a human experience.
Without humor these prints would be unbearable. Goya was very keen to bring light through the darkness of the human spirit. It's not about being good, it's about also improving our experience. And whatever is good is whatever is good for humanity and the world because we are part of the world. And art might not change that, but art helps us to think about it. And I'm amazed that art like Goya's still helps us think about it.
