The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos)
Plate 43 from the series Los Caprichos (The Caprices)
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish, 1746 - 1828
Geography:
Printed in Madrid, Spain, Europe
Date:
1797-1798, published 1799Medium:
Etching and aquatintDimensions:
Plate: 8 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches (21.3 x 14.9 cm)Curatorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
1949-97-9Credit Line:
Purchased with the SmithKline Beckman Corporation Fund, 1949
Printed in Madrid, Spain, Europe
Date:
1797-1798, published 1799Medium:
Etching and aquatintDimensions:
Plate: 8 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches (21.3 x 14.9 cm)Curatorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1949-97-9Credit Line:
Purchased with the SmithKline Beckman Corporation Fund, 1949
Social Tags [?]
bats [x] dreams [x] lynx [x] metaphor [x] owls [x] symbolism [x]Goya originally contemplated using this print as the introductory plate for Los Caprichos, with the images in the rest of the series being the visions of a sleeping artist. He is surrounded by a lynx, ears perked and eyes alert, and a swarm of owls and bats--animals that Goya's contemporaries would have recognized as emblems of ignorance and evil.
