Prison Interior

Prison Interior (Spanish: Interior de cárcel) is an oil on tin plate painting completed by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828) between 1793-94. The painting is bathed in a dim, cold light which gives it look 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] Goya often feared for his own sanity, a fact which underscores these works with feelings of dread.

Notes

^ Hughes, 140
^ Hughes, 139

Bibliography

Connell, Evan S. Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. ISBN 1-58243-307-0
Hughes, Robert. Goya. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. ISBN 0-394-58028-1

[1] Hughes, 140

[2] Hughes, 139

[1]

[2]