Brief description of "Saturn devouring his son" by Francisco de Goya

This painting belongs to the series called The Black Paintings, by Francisco de Goya, which were the decoration hanging from the walls of his House. This image has only two planes, one frontal plane and the background. On the front of the picture we can see Chronos or Saturn, god of time, during the act of eating one of his sons because of the fear he had to be dethroned byr one of them. The rest of the picture is composed by shadows that engulf Chronos body.

Our attention is inmediatly captured by two significant details. The dismembered and bloody body the god is holding in his hands, and the madness look on his face. The body is painted in vivid colors like white and red, while the god is represented with dull colors like browns and grey.

The painting was made in Goya's latest years and it's a reflex of his own tortured body amost defeated by the sickness and his fear to the pass of time.