'The first painter to systematically portray the mistreatment of human beings at the hands of the state'

" ... The film is loosely based on events from the life of Francisco Goya, probably the greatest of the painters who stood on the threshold of the modern era. For modern audiences, Goya's graphic depiction of human brutalization—the so-called “black paintings”—have achieved an iconographic quality. Goya was arguably the first painter to systematically portray the mistreatment of human beings at the hands of the state. His images are horrific, nightmarish and unforgettable. Forman's film gives us Goya as a peripheral character; on the other hand, Goya's artistic work is the focus of the film. It's greater mission is to give us a glimpse of the world that led Goya to create the “black paintings,” to put them in a social, political and moral context.

Goya was concerned with man's inhumanity towards man. But there are two sets of horrors in particular that hover in the background of the “black paintings.” The first is the brutality inflicted on the Spanish people by the French (Napoleonic) invasion and conquest and then by the Peninsular War, as British forces drove the French out. But the second, which forms the film's proper focus, is the work of the Holy Office, better known as the Spanish Inquisition. As the film opens, senior officials of the Inquisition are examining copies of prints by Goya which portray the work of the Inquisition in its proper barbarity. There is discussion about how to strike against Goya, but also recognition that as the painter to the king, he is a protected person. A discussion follows about technique. Under pressure from reformers, some of the more infamous practices of the Inquisition had been suspended. But the threat presented by the French Revolution in fact led to the reinstitution of torture practices in 1792. ... "

~ from The Question Behind 'Goya's Ghosts' ~

[ more recommended reading from Harper's: Thucydides on the Destructive Qualities of the Thirst for Power ]