The Devil's Lamp (The Bewitched Man) by Francisco Goya (Interpretation and Analysis)

The Devil's Lamp
Source: Wikimedia Commons

In honor of spooky season, I plan to share a piece of art that celebrates the creepy or the supernatural every day in October. And, there are few artists who imbue more magic and mystery in their art than Spanish painter and print-maker Francisco Goya.

Goya, who is one of my favorite artists, is well known today for the fantastical and supernatural subjects that characterize much of his art. Goya returned to these themes many times throughout his career. They seem to have functioned as a way for Goya to express political or social beliefs that were controversial in Spain at the time.

Goya was a firm proponent of the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement that sought to do away with superstition in favor of logic, reason, evidence based fact, and progress more generally. In his paintings, supernatural and magical apparitions represent the backwards social customs and superstition that plagued Spain at the time. Goya believed that Spain was being held back by a dogmatic adherence to medieval beliefs and superstition, which he mocks indirectly through his art.

The folly of superstition is illustrated clearly in today’s painting, The Devil's Lamp (also known as The Bewitched Man). This piece was one of a series of witchcraft themed paintings that Goya created for the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. The family were firm supporters of the Enlightenment and were frequent patrons of Goya.

The subject of The Devil's Lamp comes from a play called The Man Bewitched by Force by Antonio de Zamora. The painting tells the story of a man called Don Claudio, who believes that he will die if a certain lamp goes out. In Goya’s piece, the Devil holds the lamp with a mocking bow as Don Claudio pours more oil into it to keep it lit. The expression on this face reveals his absolute and all consuming terror. In the background, ghostly donkeys dance in the shadows, standing on their hind legs. In Goya’s art, donkeys often symbolize folly. Here, they represent the trick that is being played on Don Claudio. In reality, the lamp means nothing; it is simply a ploy that the devil uses to torment the pan, hoping to drive him insane and, by doing so, gain his soul.

Although Goya’s painting is meant to be entertaining and contains elements of satire, it is also a poignant representation of human fear. Mental disturbance was another subject that Goya revisited frequently in his art. He has a deep interest in the human psyche, which he captures in The Devil's Lamp in a state of psychological torment. You can almost view the painting as a portrait of a man on the verge of madness. It is this investigation of this liminal space that makes the painting truly captivating. More than anything else, The Devil's Lamp is a fascinating insight into the operation of fear within the human mind.