Ed Ruscha Ed Ruscha Ed Ruscha - Art and Living

artist profileFrancisco José de Goya y Lucientes, The Dog, 1820-23. Oil mural passedto canvas. Madrid, Museo del Prado.Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Capricho 43),1797-98. Etching and aquatint, Madrid, Museo del Prado.Great He-Goat (or Witches Sabbath), which occupied thewhole of the lower left wall of Goya’s quinta, depicts a darkmaelstrom of a terrifying pagan ritual in broad, expressionisticstrokes. Mouths of witches and watching figures hang opengrotesquely in a manner that, like so many of Goya’s BlackPaintings and etchings, was largely anathema in painting at thetime, certainly in portraiture. The animalistic nature of thehuman organism is conveyed by the open mouth, as opposed tothe the proper, austere rictus of pursed lips required in traditionalrenderings of the time.His The Dog is devoid of landscape and renders thepoignant and enigmatic image of a solitary dog staring up andout of the frame as if helpless, caught in the tide of someunknown force.The largely abstract image is ahead of its owntime, to say the least. Catalan surrealist Joan Miró asked to beshown The Dog and Velázquez’s Las Meninas on his last visit tothe Prado before his death. He gave both paintings equalweight by spending the same amount of time in front of each.Goya left a civil war-torn Spain in 1824 after being tried bythe Inquisition for obscenity for his painting of the salacious LaMaja Desnuda, 1797 – 1800. He was largely ostracised from exaltedSpanish social circles (which were his bread and butter) and,as a result, subsequently withdrew himself from public life.Goya died on April 16th, 1828 in Bordeaux at the age of82. His ashes were buried in the chapel of San Antonio de laFlorida, Madrid.Tourist Office of Spainin Los Angeleswww.spain.infoMadrid Board of Tourismwww.munimadrid.es/turismoMadrid Tourism Centerwww.esmadrid.comPrado Museumwww.museoprado.mcu.es68 2006 Issue 4