Prison Interior

Prison Interior. 42.9cm x 31.7cm, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

Prison Interior (Spanish: Interior de cárcel) is a oil on canvas painting completed by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828) between 1793-94.

The painting is bathed on a dim, cold light, which gives it the feeling of purgatory. It is one of a number of works the artist made of scenes set in lunatic asylums, including Yard with Lunatics (1793–1794) and The Madhouse (1812-1813).^[1] These works were painted at a time when mad-houses were 'holes in the social surface, small dumps into which the psychotic could be thrown without the smallest attempt to discover, classify, or treat the nature of their illness."^[2]

Notes

^ Hughes, 140
^ Hughes, 139

Bibliography

Connell, Evan S. Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. ISBN 1-5824-3307-0
Hughes, Robert. Goya. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. ISBN 0-3945-8028-1

[1] Hughes, 140

[2] Hughes, 139

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