Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

decapitated by one of his own paintings come alive. These projections of the
Pinturas negras in the background during the dramatization of the Sueño de la
razón thus further underscore Goya’s conflict in attempting to use his art as a
means of avoiding to directly confront his fears. Likewise, the animation of
various other paintings into tableau vivants points to the disjuncture between the
artist and his art.
Throughout the first dramatization of the Sueño de la razón, some of the
nightmarish beasts can be traced to various paintings by Goya. For example, the
“Horned figure” who seems to be the leader of this bestiary, proceeds from
Goya’s El entierro de la Sardina (The Burial of the Sardine, 1814) (cf. Monti
785). This painting represents a carnival scene, an inverted world of masks that
may be taken as an allusion to the state of Spain under Fernando VII. 138 The
masks of distorted, grotesque looking faces recur in the faces of the “animal-like
caricatures” of the Pinturas negras (Hofmann 198), a connection which in this
drama emphasizes the allusion to Fernando VII’s reign of terror. But more
importantly, the depiction of Goya’s torture by creatures from his own paintings
as a scene of carnival also points to the inverted relationship between him and his
works, whose rebellion against and threat to the painter underscores the
dissonance in Goya’s current artistic, personal and political identity.
138 Werner Hofmann, in Goya: To every story there belongs another, trans. by David H. Wilson
(London: Thames & Hudson, 2003), p. 198, has suggested this interpretation with regard to three
similar works, dating from the same period: The Procession of Flagellants (c. 1812-19), an
Inquisition Scene (c. 1812-19), and the Madhouse (c. 1812-19). Since it also dates from the
Restoration period, I think this interpretation can be extended at least in part to The Burial of the
Sardine.
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