Goya’s paintings of witches
As a little girl, I once thought witches were all sweet, feminine creatures from shows like Sabrina The Teenage Witch or the camp, theatrical weirdos of Hocus Pocus. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realised witches could be a lot more vindictive, partly thanks to my father, who taught me all about fine art. The Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya made a series of paintings between 1798 and 1824 that were veined with the dark arts. Permanently deafened following a long illness in 1793, Goya withdrew from Spanish society, where he’d made a living painting royalty and the elite, and spent his remaining years as a recluse. It was during this twilight period that Goya created his strangest and most striking works. Some would be called his Black Paintings, whose frightening landscapes were painted directly on the walls of his home outside of Madrid.
A prelude to the Black Paintings is The Witches’ Sabbath. Here we see a group of witches clustered around Satan, who’s come to them in the form of a black goat. With a crown of twigs atop his head, he seems to bless a newborn baby with his hoof. The bright pastels look almost rococo, a movement that celebrated joy and frivolity. To see them subverted here feels hideous. Goya’s painting Witches In Flight is just as unnerving. It depicts three levitating figures in coned hats clutching a naked man. Two appear to be biting him. A second figure recoils on the ground, and a third is seen running from them, making the gesture of figo, the protection sign against the evil eye.
There was a political angle for Goya. His paintings weren’t condemning witchcraft, but the Spanish Inquisition, whose methods of intimidation and persecution had sparked Goya’s retreat from public life. But for me, the little girl who knew nothing of politics, there was only a visceral kind of fear. I felt embarrassed at seeing women worship a farm animal, and recoiled at the sight of these strange, childlike figures ascend through a black night sky. I’d never heard of Goya, but seeing his paintings left me shaken. And strangely, there was part of me that wanted to see more.
Kimberley still needs to replenish her stock of frog’s breath.