The Naked Maja, Francisco Goya, c. 1797

Romanticism · c. 1797

The Naked Maja

Francisco Goya 1746–1828

Museo del Prado · Madrid

Watch the story

The story of The Naked Maja

Watch the first minute here. The full film, with the painter, the history and a close reading of the details, is in Hear Art.

Free preview · first minute

Look closer

Choose a detail to move in close. The film reads every one of them aloud.

Chapter 1 of 7

A Revolutionary Presence

Francisco Goya completed the Naked Maja around 1797 — not a goddess, not an allegory, but a real woman, warm and unashamed, looking straight back at you. In an age when female nudity required the alibi of myth, Goya stripped that pretense away. No goddess.

No excuse.

Where to see it

Museo del Prado

Madrid

Room 38 · Level 1

The Hear Art 3D museum guide walks you to it.

Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.

More by Francisco Goya

More at the Museo del Prado

Hear the whole collection.

119 masterpieces, each with its own film, in eight languages. Ten are free; one purchase unlocks the rest. No subscription.