The Spanish artist Francisco Goya’s print The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (1799), an iconic image from his series Los Caprichos, depicts an artist slumped over his desk, asleep, while a crowd of strange nocturnal creatures—owls, bats, a lynx, and a black cat—converge around him. Goya’s inscription on the desk, “The sleep of reason produces monsters,” provides the key to interpreting this unsettling vision. In this video, we explore how Goya’s print works as both a cautionary image and a social critique.

Speaker: Dr. Heather Graham

CHAPTERS

0:07 An artist sleeps while monsters converge

0:35 Spooky visitors: monstrous bats, owls, a black cat, and a lynx

0:56 Goya’s clue: “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”

1:08 The importance of Reason

1:29 The Enlightenment

1:43 Creepy critters in Spanish Folklore and unreasonable fears

2:12 Goya comments on his scene

2:25 Los Caprichos, the series

2:39 Art as Social Critique