Sarah Symmons' fascinating account locates Goya in the context of his Spanish heritage, traces the immense influence of his work throughout Europe and considers the continued relevance of his art in the twentieth century. Drawings, oil paintings, frescos, tapestry designs and prints all convey the full range of Goya's work. Symmons draws on the most recent scholarship and on rediscovered works to create a comprehensive portrait of this complex artist that is perfectly up-to-date and highly absorbing.

About the Author:

Sarah Symmons is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex.

Unflinching Eye. Goya, the vivid witness to beauty, grandeur, and war

From his royal court portraits to horrific scenes of conflict, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes remains one of Spain’s most revered and startling artists. With key works from throughout his career, this vivid introduction explores Goya’s mastery of form and light and varied, daring subjects.

From court portraits for the Spanish royals to horrific scenes of conflict and suffering, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) made a mark as one of Spain’s most revered and controversial artists. A master of form and light, his influence reverberates down the centuries, inspiring and fascinating artists from the Romantic Eugène Delacroix to Britart enfants terribles, the Chapman brothers.

Born in Fuendetodos, Spain, in 1746, Goya was apprenticed to the Spanish royal family in 1774, where he produced etchings and tapestry cartoons for grand palaces and royal residences across the country. He was also patronized by the aristocracy, painting commissioned portraits of the rich and powerful with his increasingly fluid and expressive style. Later, after a bout of illness, the artist moved towards darker etchings and drawings, introducing a nightmarish realm of witches, ghosts, and fantastical creatures.

It was, however, with his horrific depictions of conflict that Goya achieved enduring impact. Executed between 1810 and 1820, The Disasters of War was inspired by atrocities committed during the Spanish struggle for independence from the French and penetrated the very heart of human cruelty and sadism. The bleak tones, agitated brushstrokes, and aggressive use of Baroque-like light and dark contrasts recalled Velázquez and Rembrandt, but Goya’s subject matter was unprecedented in its brutality and honesty.

In this introductory book from TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 we set out to explore the full arc of Goya’s remarkable career, from elegant court painter to deathly seer of suffering and grotesquerie. Along the way, we encounter such famed portraits as Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, the dazzling Naked Maja, and The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid, one of the most heart-stopping images of war in the history of art.

About the authors:

Rose-Marie Hagen was born in Switzerland and studied history, Romance languages, and literature in Lausanne. After further studies in Paris and Florence, she lectured at the American University in Washington, D.C.

Rainer Hagen was born in Hamburg and graduated in literature and theater studies in Munich. He later worked for radio and TV, most recently as chief editor of a German public broadcasting service. Together they have collaborated on several TASCHEN titles, including Masterpieces in Detail, Pieter Bruegel, and Francisco de Goya.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance 
- a concise biography 
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Five quality mountable prints in a full colour illustrated envelope.

With ravishing full-spread details of paintings and carefully-chosen details of many etchings, this splendidly-illustrated volume focuses on Goya's profoundly disturbing imagery, and demonstrates that his modernity derives from his lifelong investigation of what lies behind the world of appearances and convention.

Werner Hofmann describes the essence of Goya's huge output, pointing to the source of its energy, alarming immediacy and striking modernity. ‘As an artist, Goya is on the side of the passions, the liberated as well as the suppressed, the liberating as well as the oppressive.’

Goya’s paintings, drawings and prints are placed in their historical context, revealing the specific character of each phase of the artist’s life and work. The author discusses ‘the glory and the pain of faith’ in Goya’s early work, the artist’s representation of the threat posed by the French Revolution, his dramatic documentation of the French occupation of Spain, his variations on cruelty in the Horrors of War etchings, and the religious faith apparent in his late work.

Hofmann also illuminatingly relates the artist and his work to contemporary intellectual developments, drawing comparisons with writers, critics and philosophers from Goethe to William Blake and the Marquis de Sade. The book also features extensive Notes, Chronology and a Bibliography.

An artist both of and before his time

The Old Master who ushered in the modern era

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828), one of Spain’s most revered and controversial painters, is known for his intense, chilling, and sometimes grotesque paintings depicting the injustice of society with brutal sincerity. A court painter to the Spanish crown, he captured, through his works, a snapshot of life in Spain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Coming at the tail end of the Old Masters period, Goya, with his audacious, subversive, and highly influential works, can be considered the first painter of the modern era. His influence can be seen in the works of artists as varied as Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

* a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
* approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
* a concise biography

Since the late eighteenth century, numerous artists have been enthusiastic about the sublimity of nature, the purity of emotion, melancholy, and loneliness while at the same time feeling drawn to the abysses of the human condition, as is manifested in times of war and economic crisis. Their works tell of passion and death; their themes deal with the mysterious, the uncanny, the irrational, the fantastic, the grotesque, and evil. They feature social outcasts: madmen, criminals, beggars. In 1930 the literary theorist Mario Praz coined a term for this, “Dark Romanticism,” but it has yet to have been thoroughly examined by art theory.

This publication is the first to investigate in detail the relations among the Romantic, Symbolist, and Surrealist movements, presenting Romanticism as a recurring sentiment that was embraced throughout Europe and endured into the twentieth century.

This generously illustrated volume on the work of Francisco de Goya makes the world’s greatest art accessible to readers of every level of appreciation. Widely regarded as the first modern artist, Goya was both a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a commentator on the tumultuous events of his time. Overflowing with impeccably reproduced images, this book offers full-page spreads of masterpieces as well as highlights of smaller details — allowing the viewer to appreciate every aspect of the artist’s technique and oeuvre.

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), one of Spain's most revered and controversial painters, is known for his intense, chilling, and sometimes grotesque paintings depicting the injustice of society with brutal sincerity.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
• approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
• a concise biography

Книга об испанском живописце, рисовальщике и гравере Франсиско Гойе (1746–1828). Он глубоко проник в мир кошмаров и галлюцинаций, которые высвобождаются из глубинных слоев психики, как только снимается контроль индивидуального сознания. Гойя исполнял множество картонов для ковров, изготовленных Королевской мануфактурой. Писал прекрасные портреты, будучи первым живописцем короля. Затем постепенно отошел от двора, сойдясь с либерально мыслящими личностями и познакомившись с просветительской философией. Его живописная манера сильно изменилась после того, как он стал глухим, изменились и его картины: они стали более мрачными и призрачными, а портреты приобрели более интимный характер, и в них появился напряженный психологизм. Книга состоит из семи глав, подробно рассказывающих о жизни художника и об истории создания каждой картины, представленной в издании. Все иллюстрации имеют аннотации. В конце книги приводится хронология жизни и творчества мастера, а также библиография избранных трудов о Гойе, вышедших во всем мире.