The Snowstorm

The Snowstorm by Francisco de Goya is a romanticism genre painting done in 1786-1787. It's an oil on canvas painting and one of the tapestry cartoons series done by Francisco de Goya after joining the king the so called Pintol dey Rey.

This artwork was amongst the other three pieces that were used in decorating the palace of El Pardo dining room representing seasons. The snowstorm painting shows men tolerating the severities of snowstorms instead of relishing on the season. Francisco de Goya made this painting to illustrate the intense snowfall during the winter season in Spain. Besides this actual depiction of the winter season, the Francisco de Goya presents a social theme just like he did in the other tapestry cartoons that he painted.

In the painting, we see three shrouded peasants who appear to be returning home very hungry and cold. There are also other two well-dressed persons who seem to be servants from a certain house. The two figures have a large gutted pig that appears to be carried on a camel's back. Also, there is a dog that has withdrawn his tail, making it lie between his legs. The painting shows the poor dog been in front of the two groups hence foreseeing their collision. The Snowstorm by Francisco de Goya is located in the Museo del Prado, a museum in Madrid, Spain.

Francisco de Goya also painted other masterpieces including The Third of May in 1808, The Clothed Maja and The Second of May 1808. However, particularly during this period of painting The Snowstorm, Goya made pieces like the summer or the harvest, The Injured Mason, and Cat Fighting. He also made The Marquesa de Pontejos, Picnic, Harassed Cat, Boys with Mastiffs, Boy on a ram, the Flower Girls, Magpie Tree and so on.

Francisco de Goya got his first painting inspiration at an early age through his father, who was a painter in decorative and religious artworks. At 14 years old, he schooled painting at painter Jose Luzan where he developed his painting, enabling him to do his own artwork - read more in our biography. He later went to Madrid and studied with Anto Raphael Mengs who was his master for sometimes. Goya got inspiration from other artists whom they studied together and persons who trigger his interest in the painting like the Napoleon who made him draw the Disaster of War Series. He inspired Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Bradley Rubenstein, Michael Zansky, Fernando Arrabal, Andrei Voznesenksky and so on.