The Third of May 1808
1814 · El Prado, Madrid
A lantern lights a man in a white shirt throwing his arms wide before the firing squad. Goya painted it six years later.
★ 9.4
The Art canon
Sourced and hung.
Every work chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 704 works or filter by movement, subject, place, and artist.
Browse all 704 works or filter by movement, subject, place, and artist.
Saturn Devouring His Son (Goya)
1823 · El Prado, Madrid
Goya painted this straight onto the wall of his own house in his last bitter years and never meant anyone else to see it.
★ 8.5
The Nude Maja
1800 · El Prado, Madrid
Not a goddess but a real woman looking straight back, which is why the Inquisition took an interest. Goya painted a clothed version too.
★ 7.6
Charles IV of Spain and His Family
1800 · El Prado, Madrid
Goya put himself at an easel in the shadows, as Velázquez had, and painted the royal family looking vacant, pompous or merely plain.
★ 7.2
The Clothed Maja
1800 · El Prado, Madrid
The same woman, same cushions, same pose, now dressed. It is thought to have hung in front of the nude and slid aside.
★ 6.9
The Colossus
1812 · El Prado, Madrid
A giant stands with his head in the clouds while everything below scatters. Whether Goya actually painted it is now disputed.
★ 6.8
Majas on a Balcony
1810 · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Two women in white smile out from the railing while two men in dark cloaks stand behind them in the shadow, watching.
★ 6.5
The Forge
1820 · The Frick Collection, New York City
Three smiths at a forge, one hammer at the top of its swing. Goya gave laboring men the scale usually kept for gods and kings.
★ 5.7
I Am Still Learning
1828 · El Prado, Madrid
An old man on two sticks, with Aun aprendo written underneath. Goya drew it in exile and failing health, near the end.
★ 5.2