Goya’s Ghosts

I am not one to “talk” about a movie beyond it being good or bad. However, this movie is truly intriguing. Goya’s Ghost is what we watched last night. My Husband and I love to watch movies and that is our usual evening entertainment. I usually let him pick due to my sleepy head persona, but last night regardless of his choice, I was awake.

This film was truly intriguing; it was not merely about the artist but about the things that happened during Goya’s time (1746-1828). The story covers the brutality of the church, people who were persecuted for crimes deemed unworthy of the Christian faith at the time. How does this tie into Goya? Throughout his career, Goya achieved political statement through his art. Why though was he not persecuted as well? The Kings favored him, and regardless of the free reign that the Religious sects had on the public, ultimately the word of the King (or his Queen for that matter) was above all.

Goya was Artist to the Kings Court for most of his career and gained his fame via this advantage. I think that primarily he gained the freedom to express himself unlike others due to this advantage. He also gave way for Artists to remember that their Art is not just something that is paid for, that it is an expression/opinion regardless of compensation. Another statement at the time for Goya was the polarity in his personal work versus his paid work. His personal work is very emotional and realistic, where his paid work; his commissions are picturesque views of people. The paid works are “glazed” over, so that the individual who was portrayed is pleased with how they think that they look, and pleased with how others view them. Often these commissions were a mockery of not only how these people looked in real life but a mockery of their life, their standards and morals, and more importantly, what they were often so desperately trying to hide from the public.