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Primary sourcePainting1797-1798

Witches' Flight

Francisco Goya · 1797-1798

A painting Goya made for the Osuna family showing witches tormenting a victim, used to mock superstition and the Inquisition.

Goya painted this witchcraft scene for his patrons the Osuna family, reflecting his satirical views on superstition.

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Painting of three witches flying through a dark night sky, with tall pointed hats and bare limbs, carrying a companion in a green skirt. Below, a figure in a white sheet stands beside a sprawled figure and a grey donkey.
Francisco Goya, Witches' Flight, 1797-1798. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting was made by Francisco Goya, completed around 1797-1798. It was one of six witchcraft-themed paintings bought by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna in 1798 to decorate their villa. It shows three semi-nude witches wearing pointed caps carrying a nude victim through the air, while frightened onlookers below react in horror. It is now held by the Museo del Prado.

Why it matters

Scholars generally read this as a rationalist critique of superstition and religious persecution: the witches' pointed caps resemble both the coroza worn by condemned heretics and bishops' mitres, linking the Inquisition's cruelty to the very superstition it claimed to fight. It was made for Goya's important patrons, the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, showing how Enlightenment ideas could be expressed through unsettling imagery.

Look closer

  • What do the reactions of the people below the witches tell you about fear and helplessness?
  • Why might Goya design the witches' caps to resemble both punishment and religious authority?
  • What symbol appears in the scene, and what might it represent?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Francisco Goya on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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