Goya: From Humble Abode to Royal Palace - Gallery of the Masters

This informative documentary traces the development of the artist Francisco Goya from a painter of serene Rococo Idylls to the creator of surrealistic visions of the subconscious. Goya revealed behind the masks and facades of his contemporaries the demonic nature of humanity, thus destroying the baroque idea of "the divinity of man". Goya began as a cartoon painter, creating designs for the royal tapestry manufactory. Soon, however, he became the most sought-after portraitist of Madrid's high society and was appointed court painter to the King. His paintings breathed the "new bourgeois spirit of the Enlightenment." at the age of 46 Goya suffered a stroke while painting. For months he was paralyzed, and he remained deaf for the rest of his life. Yet the loss of his hearing seemed to accentuate his artistic perception, for it was at this point in his life that his genius came to fruition, probing the depths of humankind as if with x-ray eyes. Not until the 20th century did art once again link up with Goya's expressive surrealistic visions.