de Goya

yard with madmen by Francisco jose de goya y Lucientes (1794)

32.7 cm x 43.8 cm (about 13 in × 17 in)

Romanticism

Goya’s career started off slowly until he married the sister of a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. This helped him get commissions that were eventually noticed by the king. He finally became First Court Painter to Carlos IV in 1799.

Around 1794, the artist suffered an illness that would cause his to completely lose his hearing over time. His work became moody and introspective as a result. It was during this period that he painted Yard with Madmen. In a letter he describes it as something he personally witnessed that affected him deeply. Goya was acutely aware of the painting’s disturbing imagery and that people might not like it. He also didn’t seem to care if anyone ever saw it or not.

Yard with Madmen is a dark work and probably my favorite Goya. The archway in the background marks the horizontal centerline of the composition. The upper half has almost nothing going on in it. A wedge of empty sky and two large, brown/grey walls come together at a corner. This plainness does nothing to prepare the viewer for the chaos below.

The bottom of the painting is a mass of writhing, screaming forms. In the center are two grappling figures. Their muscles ripple and strain as they fight. Meanwhile, a member of the hospital staff whips them. The violence of the whipping can be seen in the arc of the rod, but in their raw rage the two don’t seem to feel it. This scene reminds me of a horrible dog fight I once witnessed. The viciousness of it was terrifying and near impossible to break up. Nothing seemed to work. Only brute strength finally tore the dogs apart, but some of us were seriously hurt doing so. I hear the noises of that fight—from the animals and humans—in this painting.

In Yard with Madmen, I think Goya may be using the classical nude against itself. In his day, the European Classical era was believed to be the Golden Age of human civilization. Its ideals became one of the foundations of Western culture, and art would adopt its themes and motifs in an attempt to elevate society. By making the central lunatics nude, Goya may be criticizing the contemporary idealization of Man and Human Reason. As a result of going deaf, Goya was able to observe the people around him without being distracted by what they were saying, especially those within the Spanish royal court. The painter might be showing humanity as he saw it. Notice that the fighters are the only nudes here, and that they are the most violent figures in the work. Outwardly, these figures are ideal male specimens, but inwardly, their mind–what made them human–is gone. The Classical ideal is shattered; they are just animals now.

The rest of the inmates in the painting react to the fight. They panic, scream, hoot, run around and flip out — it’s bedlam.

…Except for this guy.

For me, this figure, located in the lower right foreground, lifts this painting to greatness. I can’t stop looking at him. He’s not really doing anything. He just sits there. Smiling. At me. With his big, toothy grin. He’s probably giggling too. Everyone else is immersed in or affected by the fight. He isn’t. He’s reacting to me. Now I am no longer a passive viewer of a painting; I am involved.

Now look back at the upper half of the painting. There are only two walls. From this viewpoint the other two walls are behind me, meaning I am in the yard of this madhouse with the lunatics and there is no barrier between me and them. This lone figure looks and smiles. He grabs my attention and makes me uncomfortable. The walls remind me that I am trapped in here with him. It’s unnerving.

This painting is an example of an artistic category known as Romanticism. In an era that celebrated the achievements of human reason, ability, and ingenuity, Romanticism was fascinated by the deception of human ability and the darker areas of human nature and experience. Goya had a fear of going insane and, like many other Romantics, explored the relationship between sanity and insanity. He would go back to this theme several times during his career.