The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Spanish: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos) is an etching by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. Occasionally the phrase is mistakenly rendered as “The dream of reason produces monsters”, since the Spanish word “sueño” can mean either “sleep” or “dream”. Created between 1797 and 1799, it is the 43rd of 80 etchings making up the suite of satires Los Caprichos. Goya imagines himself asleep amidst his drawing tools, his reason dulled by slumber and bedeviled by creatures that prowl in the dark. The work includes owls that may be symbols of folly and bats symbolizing ignorance. The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed in the Caprichos as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule. The work is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and was the gift of M. Knoedler & Co. in 1918.

Contents

• Goya s caprichos 43 the sleep of reason produces monsters
• How to destroy angels the sleep of reason produces monsters
• References

The full epigraph for capricho No. 43 reads; "Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her (reason) , she (fantasy) is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels."

The title of C. P. Snow's The Sleep of Reason is drawn from this painting.