CentralNotice Black Paintings From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Set of paintings by Francisco Goya Exposition Universelle (1878). Paris . On the left: Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) . The Black Paintings (Spanish: Pinturas negras ) is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and his bleak outlook on humanity. In 1819, at the age of 72, Goya moved into a two-story house outside Madrid that was called Quinta del Sordo ( Deaf Man's Villa ). Although the house had been named after the previous owner, who was deaf, Goya too was nearly deaf at the time as a result of a fever he had suffered when he was 46. The paintings originally were painted as murals on the walls of...