Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and the creation and appreciation of beauty. Francisco de Goya’s art work of “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” is an example of aesthetics. Dreams are defined as a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntary in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Frequently dreams are said to portray events and images that are highly unlikely to occur in physical reality. In Francisco de Goya's portrayal in his art “The Sleep (or dream) of Reason Produces Monsters” he expresses a rare yet common type of dream commonly referred to as a nightmare. Nightmares consist of the same traits and qualities of regular and more common dreams but are filled with frightening thoughts, feelings, and/or images. In this print Goya expresses his fears of the society surrounding him he feels is unwilling to change for the better. Goya mockingly expresses his fears by perhaps portraying the society as the demonized bats, owls and the craze eyed lynx that linger and swarm behind him.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monster is a work of art created by Franciso de Goya. The art is a self-portrait of de Goya. His head is face down, asleep amid his drawing tools, while owls and bats menacingly surround him. At his feet a lynx sits motionless, alert, and staring. The owls, symbols of folly, and bats, symbols of ignorance, are poised to attack the artist. Also, the bats, bloodsucking creatures of the night, evoked associations with the devil. Owls were symbols of mindless stupidity at the time. Goya is a man exhausted; beset by demons that haunt him, assault him, but might, after all, serve to inspire him; a man seeking wisdom, yet subject to a swirling maelstrom of stupidities and evils. Yet there is an intimation of wisdom in this unsettling scene: the ability to see through darkness and perceive truth from error was the special talent of the lynx.
In Spanish, the word “sueno” means both to dream and to sleep. Therefore, there is debate over whether Goya meant, “The sleep of reason produces monsters” or “The dreams of reason produces monsters”. When we sleep our dream can lead us to insanity. Another interpretation is without imagination analysis alone can lead one to madness. Furthermore, the title could also be understood as either a “Modernist motto” or a “skeptical statement” that seems more in line with postmodernism, the former being a commitment to reason while the latter suggests it is dangerous to dream the dream of reason. Another meaning of the art could be that reason must govern the imagination. It must be watchful, otherwise darkness and evil will be unleashed on humanity. Goya might have believed that many of the follies of mankind resulted from the sleep of reason, meaning, when we omit critical thinking or analysis of beliefs or ideas, our perceptions are often distorted. Thus, it was felt that reason stifled imagination, and without imagination no progress would be made. Reason alone was inhuman, but imagination without reason ‘produces monsters’. The painting speaks the mind of Goya and proposes that the audience reflect regularly on their beliefs and ideas to question whether their perspectives on a situation are either correct or misguided.
The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule. These fantasy type etchings and aquatints portray the vices of contemporary Spanish society including what he considered to be quack doctors, foolish aristocrats, and greedy monks; all of which became victims of ridicule in his artwork. The design is also generally seen as a comment on the French Revolution, or the Age of Reason generally, more specifically, the return of the repressed unconscious forces of nightmare the moment one is distracted from the pursuit of Enlightenment. Thus, Goya is referring to the fight between two positions: the one of reason, represented by liberals, and the one of the "sleep" of reason, represented by conservatives and the Spanish Inquisition. If the liberals lost the fight, “monsters would be produced”. By monsters, Goya was referring to some of the worst tyrants of the Inquisition. Goya created what he described as a universal language that would encourage men and women to reflect on the world and their roles and actions within it. He wanted to provoke deeper thought on the fundamental problems of the revolutionary era in which he lived. The artwork is his personal reflections, and proves that a nation’s revolutionary thinking does not have to interfere with an artist’s individuality or stunt their creative thought, and it allowed Goya to produce images that impacted the art world and society for generations to come.