Old Master Painting Research

The piece I chose to base my video off of is People in Sacks, which is part of a series of prints done by Francisco Goya from 1815–1824 titled Los Disparates (or, “Nonsense.”) Goya was a Spanish artist considered to be the last of the Old Masters as well as the Father of Modern Art. His earlier work included portraits of Spanish royalty, but as his career went on, his art became darker and darker. After becoming deaf in the late 18th century, his work began to project his physical and mental anguish. His Black Paintings, a collection of 14 separate pieces, were the result of illness in his later years, and contained very morbid themes as seen in one of his more famous paintings, Saturn Devouring His Son:

The series of images that People in Sacks is from is a collection of about 20 prints, all of which are seemingly random and unrelated. Throughout Los Disparates, there are lots of strange figures dressed in hooded robes and other kinds of loose cloth, which give the paintings a mysterious aura about them. Who are these people? What are they doing? Do they represent anything? With images of violence and sex, some have suggested that the prints were intended to be some sort of social commentary. The time period in which they were completed was when Goya was leaving Spain, so perhaps they have a somewhat anti-establishment meaning behind them.

When looking at People in Sacks specifically, I imagine that what I am seeing is merely one section of a long trail of people migrating from one place to another. The figure on the far right gives me a sense of overall motion and direction within the image. I feel that the entire group of people in the print are on the same wavelength as this person, and that they are traveling together. However, when it comes to making my video, I want to take a more nonsensical approach rather than trying to find a meaning with this image. I will take the dark and mysterious themes of People and Sacks and try and recreate them in video form through illusions that will hopefully fool the viewer. Though my video will not have a direct narrative meaning, I hope to still create something that can be interpreted in a variety of ways.