The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Francisco Goya - 1799 - 21.6 x 15.2 cm private collection The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters by Francisco Goya - 1799 - 21.6 x 15.2 cm private collection

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

etching and aquatint • 21.6 x 15.2 cm
  • Francisco Goya - 30 March 1746 - 16 April 1828 Francisco Goya 1799

The etching shows the artist, protecting himself from the owls (symbols of folly) and bats (symbols of ignorance). Possibly it is Goya's voice in a discussion about the situation in Spain where he lived at the beginning of XIX century. Spain of that time had a very Catholic and narrow minded society, where ignorance and bigotry was too common for Goya. An example: The inquisition in Spain was shut down scarcely in 1820!