Saturn Devouring His Son is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It is traditionally interpreted as a depiction of the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus (known as Saturn in Roman mythology) eating one of his offspring. Fearing a prophecy foretold by Gaea that predicted he would be overthrown by one of his children, Saturn ate each one upon their birth. The work is one of the 14 so-called Black Paintings that Goya painted directly on the walls of his house sometime between 1819 and 1823. It was transferred to canvas after Goya’s death and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Goya depicts a large figure feasting on a human form. The figure’s head and part of the left arm have already been consumed. The right arm has probably been eaten too, though it could be folded in front of the body and held in place by the larger figure’s thumbs. The larger figure is on the point of taking another bite from the left arm; as he looms from the darkness, his mouth gapes and his eyes bulge widely. The only other brightness in the picture comes from the white flesh, the red blood of the corpse, and the white knuckles of the larger figure as he digs his fingers into the back of the body.

Various interpretations of the meaning of the picture have been offered: the conflict between youth and old age, time as the devourer of all things, the wrath of God and an allegory of the situation in Spain, where the fatherland consumed its own children in wars and revolution.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

Remember nerds, no current struggle session discussion here to the general megathread, i will ban you from the comm and remove your comment, have a good day/night :meow-coffee:

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments

i want to make a joke about censoring the meat on the OP image but I also don’t want to seem like I’m antagonizing or concern trolling vegan comrades. there are two wolves inside of me, and i ate neither of them (I promise)

permalink
report
reply
3 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply

art

!art@hexbear.net

Create post

A community for sharing and discussing art, aesthetics, and music relating to '80s, '90s, and '00s retro microgenres and also art in general now!

Some cool genres and aesthetics include:

  • outrun
  • vaporwave
  • mallsoft
  • future funk
  • city pop
  • synthwave
  • laborwave

If you are unsure if a piece of media is on theme for this community, you can make a post asking if it fits. Discussion posts are encouraged, and particularly interesting topics will get pinned periodically.

No links to a store page or advertising. Links to bandcamps, soundclouds, playlists, etc are fine.

Community stats

  • 7

    Monthly active users

  • 3.3K

    Posts

  • 16K

    Comments