About

Saturn Devouring His Son is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya depicting the Titan Saturn eating one of his sons. The painting is inspired by Greek myth, as prophecy foretold Saturn would be overthrown by one of his sons, thus ate them as soon as they were born. The painting became one of Goya's most well-known works, and has been widely referenced in pop culture and parodied as an exploitable.

Origin

Goya painted Saturn Devouring His Son between 1819 and 1823^[1] as part of a series of fourteen works intended for private consumption. The painting was given its name after Goya's death. It is currently displayed at the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Spread

The painting has long been celebrated online as one of the cooler and creepier paintings. For example, a 2010 Reddit post by andrewsmith1986 on /r/pics called it "the most badass painting."^[2] A post on /r/Creepy of the painting from December 2016 gained over 530 points.^[3] In addition to being shared online, it has also long been parodied in exploitable edits. For example, in 2012 Tumblr user aquaticsasquatch posted a Why I'm Antisocial parody using the painting (shown below, left). In 2013, DeviantArt user PurpleMerkle posted a parody of Mickey Mouse devouring Darth Vader (shown below, right).

Other popular parodies of the painting include a tweet by @sakkan69 showing Kirby, gaining over 5,800 retweets and 8,100 likes (shown below, left). Tumblr user thegodamnedmagpie posted a How Creative People See the World parody with the image, gaining over 16,000 notes (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581 is a 19th century painting by Russian realist artist Ilya Repin. The painting depicts the grieving Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible holding his dying son Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, shortly after striking his head with a scepter. The painting has been a popular subject of redraws and references online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References