Blow (Sopla)
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Object Label
The Caprices (Los Caprichos) is a set of eighty etchings created between 1797 and 1798. On view are thirteen examples of the Brooklyn Museum’s rare “trial proof” set, which is composed of early impressions of a print made by the artist prior to the published edition. In the first part of the series, Goya critiques the characters, institutions, and values of early modern Spanish society; the second focuses on bizarre and macabre imagery.
The most famous image, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), conveys a purposeful ambiguity regarding the conflict between Spanish religiosity and Enlightenment thought: sueño may refer both to the sleep or absence of reason, and to the dream of reason (reason unchecked) that produces monsters. This idea reappears later in the exhibition in Robert Longo’s work.
The most famous image, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), conveys a purposeful ambiguity regarding the conflict between Spanish religiosity and Enlightenment thought: sueño may refer both to the sleep or absence of reason, and to the dream of reason (reason unchecked) that produces monsters. This idea reappears later in the exhibition in Robert Longo’s work.
Caption
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828). Blow (Sopla), 1797–1798. Etching and aquatint on laid paper, Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm) Image: 6 15/16 x 4 1/2 in. (17.6 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund, 37.33.69.
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Blow (Sopla)
Portfolio
Date
1797–1798
Geography
Place made: Spain
Medium
Etching and aquatint on laid paper
Classification
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 7/8 x 8 in. (30.2 x 20.3 cm) Image: 6 15/16 x 4 1/2 in. (17.6 x 11.4 cm)
Credit Line
A. Augustus Healy Fund, Frank L. Babbott Fund, and Carll H. de Silver Fund
Accession Number
37.33.69
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
You're looking at Sopla, or "Blow" from Francisco Goya's "Los Caprichos" or "The Whims" print series. It's a particularly odd one, isn't it? In this print, a tall witch uses a young boy as a bellows, holding him by his legs and using gas from his bottom to set fire to a brazier.Many of Goya's prints from "Los Caprichos" reference witches, witchcraft, and superstition, as well as cruelty, all of which are on display here.
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