Goya's Monsters

Plate 43 of 80 from Goya's 1797-99 series of etchings, Los Caprichos, 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters'.

The full epigraph for caprichio #43 reads:  

Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.

Imagination without rationality creates horrors.

Goya used the series to critique contemporary Spanish society. As he explained in the advertisement, he chose subjects 'from the multitude of follies and blunders common in every civil society, as well as from the vulgar prejudices and lies authorized by custom, ignorance or interest, those that he has thought most suitable matter for ridicule.'

No simple-minded devotee of Enlightenment values, Goya. The cool identification of 'lies authorized by...interest' and ridicule directed at those with assumed authority resulted in the banning of Los Caprichos.