"Continuing in the same room, if you happen to look behind, you'll eventually encounter the eyes of an old man staring at you from a little portrait hung on the wall. The facial expression may be one of the features you'll notice first about it. A creepy, ominous face grotesquely smiles at you from a dimly-lit room. What does the creature want? You may ask. Why is it smiling? Perhaps it's enjoying that bowl of soup which can be seen in the picture, or just having a talk with its companion positioned next to him. It doesn't appear very lifelike, does it? Maybe they're only greeting death with the enthusiastic expression of a child meeting an old friend. Such a disgusting, intriguing scene, isn't it? What you're looking at is an old woman on the portrait and her companion, another example of the Black Paintings created by Francisco de Goya around the 1820s, which decorate the room you are in. They were originally found during the first decade of the 1900s and brought to the museum by the use of a technique which allowed the transference of color from the dry wall to the canvas. You may have just heard about the representation of the Greek mythology scene of the Titan Saturn eating his descendants. This one does follow the trend of creating an overall uneasy feeling in the spectator. What do you think this one tries to convey? Witchcraft? Death? Possibly a joke of the painter? Paradoxically, the only feature that's totally clear about the picture is that its meaning is still unknown. Some state that the figures standing in it are not men, but women practicing a strange, unknown ritual. Others outline a possible connection with the decaying power of death, represented by the man on the right. The technique provides some useful information to solve this mystery. Its blurry appearance is the result of being originally painted in oil over plaster walls, in a sort of a bizarre mural found in the painter's residence on the outskirts of Madrid. Look closely at the picture, but without passing the limits. Can you see the brushstrokes which decorate the composition? The rudimentary coarseness nature of the brushstrokes is another distinctive feature of the picture. It suggests a lack of interest in representing details and an overall focus on the impression which the image as a whole produces in the spectator. Have you seen this style before? Think about it for a second. Let me give you a little clue: Starry Night, Rising Sun, Cafe at Night. Any idea? Certain historians relate it to the Impressionist movement, which would emerge in France years later, Goya being a prospective precursor of it. Colors, however, are a different story. A combination of browns, blacks, and reds together preserve the dark, ominous nature of the composition. Maybe to understand the painting it would be interesting to learn about its author. Francisco de Goya, a Spanish painter born in 1746 to a wealth of peasant family, would eventually reach the Royal Court as the chamber painter of the Spanish monarch, Charles the Fourth. He began studying art at the age of 13, although he began painting at a very young age. He even worked in Italy, but his main artistic production happened during his years painting for Charles the Fourth and his family. His style and themes varied across his life, but most experts praise the precursor nature of some of his creations, which anticipated the arrival of certain 20th-century vanguards. The Black Paintings were created during the last years of his life, when his physical condition began worsening due to his advanced age. Dizziness, occasional trembling and particularly deafness, began hindering the fulfillment of his assignments. In parallel, the Spanish War of Independence against the French occupation had started and naturally Goya's creation began addressing violence and the horrors of war. By 1819, he moved to that residence on the outskirts where he gradually became isolated. It is assumed that the combination of the historical context and his personal situation were the cause behind such mysterious creations. However, apart from the wide range of interpretation given to the painting, the uncertainty which surrounds the obscure message which this old man eating soup is trying to convey will definitely remain for a long time. Now, what about you? Has your curiosity for you to keep an eye on that smile, or did you feel compelled to look away overwhelmed by those deep frozen eyes? No easy reality. The fact of the matter here is those ancient ghostly figures and their bowl of soup will surely never be erased from your thoughts."