Self-Portrait with Dr Arrieta
The story
“Self-Portrait with Dr Arrieta” was painted in 1820. At the end of 1819 Francisco de Goya fell seriously ill, and his friend, the doctor Eugenio Arrieta, saved him.
In “Self-Portrait with Dr Arrieta” Goya sits in bed, pale and exhausted, clutching the sheet. Behind him the doctor holds him and raises a glass of medicine to his lips. In the darkness behind, more faces can be seen.
Francisco de Goya paints himself weak and ill, without flattering himself. The most important thing in the painting is care – the doctor's hand holding the sick man.
Below, Goya wrote his thanks: to his friend Arrieta, who with skill and care saved his life during a serious illness at the end of 1819, at the age of 73. At about the same time he was painting dark pictures such as The Dog on the walls of his home.
Today “Self-Portrait with Dr Arrieta” is in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, in the United States.
Interesting facts
The canvas measures 114.6 × 76.5 cm, oil.
Below the painting there is an inscription thanking the doctor.
Goya was 73 years old when he fell ill.
