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Primary sourcePainting1793–1794

Yard with Lunatics

Francisco Goya · 1793–1794

A small oil-on-tin painting by Goya showing shackled inmates in an asylum courtyard, made during his own illness and breakdown.

Goya painted this himself during his illness, making it a rare window into his private fears rather than a commissioned work.

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Painting of a walled courtyard under a bright opening in the sky. Several disturbed, partly nude and clothed figures gather in a tangle near an arched doorway; a man in a green coat stands at the right, and figures sit or sprawl on the ground at the lower right.
Francisco Goya, Yard with Lunatics, 1793–1794. Meadows Museum, Dallas.

About this source

What it is

This is a small oil painting on tinplate by Francisco Goya, made around 1793–1794 while he was recovering from a severe illness that left him deaf. It is now held at the Meadows Museum.

Goya said the scene was based on things he had witnessed in an asylum in Zaragoza as a young man.

Why it matters

The painting marks a turning point in Goya's career. Until then he had mostly painted commissioned portraits of nobles and royalty. This was one of a group of small, dark, uncommissioned works he made for himself, reflecting his own fears about his health and his mind. It shows shackled and suffering inmates watched by a single warder, and is often read as a protest against the brutal treatment of the mentally ill at the time.

Look closer

  • Why might Goya have chosen to paint this scene privately, without a patron asking for it?
  • What does the lighting and composition do to make the scene feel frightening?
  • How might this painting reflect what Goya himself was going through at the time?

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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