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Art Annotations

Goya, Francisco Courtyard with Lunatics

	On-Line Art
Medium	Art
Art Form	Oil on tin plate
Keywords	Deafness, Depression, Human Worth, Institutionalization, Mental Illness, Patient Experience, Psycho-social Medicine
Summary	In a dark, stone enclosure numerous figures of indeterminate age and gender huddle in shadow while others crawl or writhe toward the murky foreground light. The visual center of the painting is the fierce struggle of two naked men whose grappling is made more agitated by the flailing whip of a dark, fully-clothed figure. Opening above the pen-like enclosure and the tormented figures is broad, white space, glowing with intense light--a shocking contrast to the darkness of this 18th century "snake pit." (See film annotation of The Snake Pit.)
Commentary	In 1793, after recovering from a serious illness that left him deaf, Goya decided to complete a series of works on subjects that interested him. In a letter to Bernardo de Iriarte he explained that he chose these subjects both as a gesture of intellectual freedom and to "distract my mind." He wanted to work without the strictures imposed by commissions, and to pursue subjects "in which fantasy and invention have no place." This painting is his record of conditions in an institution at Zaragoza.
Location of Original	Algur H. Meadows Collection, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
Alternate Source	Goya and the Spirit of the Enlightenment (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989)
Annotated by	Winkler, Mary G.
Date of Entry	01/20/98
Last Revised	05/04/98