Plagued by anxiety and bitterness from a devastating illness that rendered him deaf, Spanish artist Francisco de Goya (1746 – 1828) created “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” one of 80 etchings in his “Los Caprichos” series. The etchings were scathing critiques of human errors and vices that lampooned contemporary religious and political figures. Royal painter to King Carlos IV, Goya risked banishment from the court and the Inquisition by making such inflammatory works. “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” portrays the artist hounded by creatures that threaten the ignorant mind. Goya believed that imagination, combined with reason, would keep these monsters at bay.

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