He is both a painter of impressive portraits and an inventor of enigmatic pictorial worlds: Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) was a respected court painter in Spain. The loss of his hearing, the mysterious death of the Duchess of Alba, with whom he was undyingly in love, the reign of terror of the French Revolution, and finally the Napoleonic Wars all left their mark on his work. Against this contemporary historical background, he became one of the first pioneers of modern art, whose pictures still exert a magical fascination today.