Summary:

Originally intended as a frontispiece, El sueño de la razon produce monstruos is number 43 in the series Los Caprichos (1799) by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. Also one of his roughly 40 self-portraits, this ambiguous picture shows a seated male figure with his ankles crossed leaning over to his right as he rests his elbows and head on a desk. The male figure wears an ankle-length coat, breeches, stockings, and shoes. His hair is long, his face invisible. On top of the desk, under his right elbow, we see a paintbrush or writing instrument. The side of the desk, in the lower left corner, bears the title of the work. On the floor to the man's right crouches a lynx. Owls with huge wings and expressive eyes surround him. The owl on his right holds out a paintbrush. A cat with watchful eyes perches behind his back. Above the human figure large bats are flying; the largest one at the top right has a goat-like head.

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Summary:

A seated, cross-legged, naked woman envelops the body of a child. The limp child, head tipped far back, is clutched to the figure we assume is the mother. Her features are mostly hidden by the child's body--except we see one closed eye and her nose nestled into his skin. Also visible are her expressive eyebrows, which silently communicate her explosive feelings. With her strong arms--especially a strong, thick hand--she draws the child toward her even more tightly.Her embrace is all-consuming. The mother's muscular leg forms the base of the monolithic shape that confronts the viewer. Most of the lines the artist uses to shape and shade the forms are aggressive, taut, and meaningful, contributing energy to the surface. As a bit of relief from the overall grief, Kollwitz drew the lines of the woman's hair tenderly, and delicately rendered the boy's features.Beate Bonus-Jeep, Kollwitz's close friend, described this etching memorably: "A mother, animal-like, naked, the light-colored corpse of her dead child between her thigh bones and arms, seeks with her eyes, with her lips, with her breath, to swallow back into herself the disappearing life that once belonged to her womb." (Prelinger, p. 42)

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