He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)

He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

An old man wakes, possibly from a nightmare, and struggles to kick off the bedclothes in which he is entangled. His face is distorted in pain, his brow furrowed and his mouth open. He wrests his right leg free from the sheets, revealing that he is wearing boots. The emphasis on the nicely shod foot hints that this might not be a straightforward representation of sudden awakening. At a time when apparel was a marked signifier of class identity—the press ridiculed the popular interest in the clothing of public figures—Goya may have intended the boot to betray the social status of the man depicted. The suggestion of aristocratic fury underlies a masterly depiction of an easily recognizable psychological state.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)He Wakes Up Kicking; a man on the floor kicking his legs after waking from a nightmare; page 13 from the "Witches and Old Women" Album (D)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.