Francisco Goya

Hello! My name is Francisco Goya, and I was a painter in Spain a long time ago. I was born on March 30th, 1746, in a small village called Fuendetodos. Even as a little boy, I loved to draw on anything I could find—walls, paper, you name it! When I was about 13 years old, my family moved to the bigger city of Zaragoza, and I started to study with a real painter. I learned so much and practiced every day. I knew right away that art was going to be my whole life, and I was excited to see where it would take me.

I worked very hard, and my biggest dream was to become a famous artist in Spain's capital city, Madrid. I finally moved there in 1774 to design beautiful pictures called tapestries for the royal palaces. These were large, woven artworks that hung on the walls. My big break came in 1786 when I was chosen to be a painter for the king, Charles III. This was a great honor. Later, I became the official First Court Painter for King Charles IV in 1799. I painted many portraits of the royal family, showing them in their fancy clothes and surrounded by beautiful things. But I always tried to paint them just as they were, showing their true personalities in their faces, not just making them look perfect.

In 1793, something happened that changed my life forever. I became very sick, and when I finally recovered, I had lost my hearing. The world became silent for me, and I could no longer hear music or people's voices. At first, it was very difficult and made me feel isolated. But this great change also made me look at the world differently. Since I could not hear what was happening outside, I started to listen more to my own imagination. I created a famous set of prints called 'Los Caprichos' that were filled with fantasy and sometimes-scary creatures to share my thoughts about the world around me.

In 1808, a terrible war began in Spain, called the Peninsular War. It was a very sad and difficult time for my country, and I saw many things that were hard to forget. As an artist, I felt it was my job to show the truth of what was happening, not to hide it. I painted two of my most famous pictures, 'The Second of May 1808' and 'The Third of May 1808,' to show both the bravery and the suffering of the Spanish people. I also made a series of prints called 'The Disasters of War' so that no one would ever forget what war is really like and the pain it causes.

As I got older, I wanted a more quiet and private life. I moved into a house just outside Madrid that people later called the 'Quinta del Sordo,' which means the 'House of the Deaf Man.' There, instead of painting on canvas, I painted strange and powerful pictures directly onto the walls of my home. These became known as my 'Black Paintings.' They were just for me, full of my private thoughts and feelings from deep inside my imagination. In 1824, I decided to leave Spain and moved to Bordeaux, France, where I continued to draw and paint until the very end of my life.

I lived to be 82 years old, passing away on April 16th, 1828. Even though my life had many changes, from painting for kings to living in silence, I never stopped painting what I believed to be true. Today, people remember me as one of Spain's most important artists and one of the first modern painters because I wasn't afraid to paint real life, my own imagination, and the truth as I saw it.