The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Spanish: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos
Artist Francisco Goya
Year c. 1799
Type Etching, aquatint, drypoint and burin
Dimensions 21.5 cm × 15 cm ( 8 7⁄16 in ×  5 7⁄8 in)

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Spanish: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos) is an etching by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. Occasionally the phrase is mistakenly rendered as “The dream of reason produces monsters”, since the Spanish word “sueño” can mean either “sleep” or “dream”. Created between 1797 and 1799,[1] it is the 43rd of 80 etchings making up the suite of satires Los Caprichos.[2] Goya imagines himself asleep amidst his drawing tools, his reason dulled by slumber and bedeviled by creatures that prowl in the dark. The work includes owls that may be symbols of folly and bats symbolizing ignorance. The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed in the Caprichos as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule.[3]

The full epigraph for capricho No. 43 reads; "Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her (reason) , she (fantasy) is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels."[4]

The title of C. P. Snow's The Sleep of Reason is drawn from this painting.

Preparatory drawings

References

  1. ↑ "Goya - The Sleep of Reason". Eeweems.com. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  2. ↑ The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  3. ↑ The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Plate 43 of The Caprices (Los Caprichos)". Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  4. ↑ Jensen, Robin M.; Vrudny, Kimberly J. (2009). Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community Through the Arts. Liturgical Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-814-65399-9.

Further reading

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