Francisco Goya

Hello! My name is Francisco Goya. I was a painter from a sunny place called Spain. A long, long time ago, in the year 1746, I was born. Ever since I was a little boy, I loved to draw and paint. I would take a piece of charcoal and draw pictures on walls, fences, and anything I could find! Mixing colors to make something new felt like magic to me.

When I grew up, I became a very special painter. In the year 1799, I got to paint pictures for the King and Queen of Spain! They wore fancy, sparkling clothes and beautiful ribbons. I would paint their big family, and sometimes even their little dogs who sat by their feet. It was my job to make them look just right on my big canvas.

Painting portraits was fun, but I also loved to let my imagination run wild! I didn't just paint what I saw; I also painted what I dreamed about. I drew pictures of flying creatures, funny giants, and all sorts of silly monsters. Art was my way of telling stories without using any words.

I painted and drew for my whole life, and I lived to be 82 years old. I made my last painting in the year 1828. Today, my pictures are famous all over the world. You can see them hanging in big buildings called museums. People look at my art and see the stories I wanted to tell—some are of real people, and some are from my imagination. I am happy that my art still makes people smile and think.