Hello. I am Mimi Takamizawa, a painter. I have been looking forward to having this long, heartfelt conversation with you.
What kind of scenery is spreading out before your eyes right now?
Daily work, repeated routines, or perhaps a little bit of fatigue. All of us are living our busy lives to the very best of our abilities.
To you, who live in such a reality, there is a special masterpiece that I absolutely must share with you. It is The Third of May 1808 in Madrid, painted by Francisco de Goya.
“Why talk about an old painting now?”
You might have thought that.
But please rest assured. This story is entirely related to you. By knowing this piece and actually experiencing it, a surprising change will occur in your life ahead. This painting possesses a powerful force that beautifully resolves the daily stress and unidentified anxieties dwelling within your heart.
Art is by no means difficult. Rather, it becomes a lifelong ally that supports you as you live in the present. Won’t you embark on a journey with me to the stage of this historical masterpiece?
Do You Know within Yourself That You Are Living with a Little Bit of Loneliness?
Here, please allow me to touch upon the inner workings of your precious heart.
Do you know within yourself that you are living with a little bit of loneliness? It is to comfort your heart that the works of Mimi Takamizawa are created. This is art meant to heal your heart.
Every day, I create paintings under the theme of “Your Eyes, My Eyes.” Every human being harbors a deep solitude. Both you and I must have moments when we feel a little bit of loneliness. I was once saved by works of art. That is exactly why I want you to have the same wonderful experience of salvation as I did.
Within the artwork, your gaze and my gaze connect. When we look into each other’s eyes, a wordless conversation is born there. At that moment, you and I are no longer lonely, and our loneliness is healed.
And Goya’s The Third of May 1808 in Madrid also harbors the power to close in on human primal solitude and fear, providing salvation for your spirit. Experiencing this piece will be the absolute shortest path to healing the wounds of your heart.
In What Kind of Historical Context Was the Masterpiece The Third of May 1808 in Madrid Born, and Why Does It Continue to Attract You Today?
When, Where, and by Whom Was This Work Made?
This masterpiece, which possesses a force that locks eyes with you, was painted in Madrid, Spain, in 1814 by Francisco de Goya, who was a court painter.
What is depicted is, just as the title states, the events of the night of May 3, 1808. The location is the Príncipe Pío hill in Madrid. It is based on an actual historical event where the French army led by Napoleon brutally shot and killed the resisting citizens of Madrid.
Please imagine it. A hill shrouded in darkness. The cold gun barrels of the French soldiers. And a man wearing a white shirt in the center, standing with both arms spread wide as if to shield the townspeople. His bare “eyes” emit a strange light in the darkness.
Even when you, living in the present day over 200 years later, look at this sight, it should instantly jump into your mind as a vivid image.
Why Is This Historical Tragedy Related to Your Current Daily Life?
You might feel that “a war in old Spain has nothing to do with my life.” However, is that really true?
In our daily lives, we face unreasonable troubles, organizational pressures, and major forces that cannot be resisted. A sudden demand from a boss, or human relationships that do not go as desired. These are forms of “unreasonable control” that have changed their appearance.
What Goya engraved into this painting is the bare emotion of a human being who simply wishes to live in the face of state tyranny. Look at the eyes of the man in the center, filled with terror and anger. These eyes are the very eyes of you, who fight and are sometimes wounded in modern society. Goya recorded this fact on canvas to tell you, in the future, that you are not alone when you run into difficulties in life.
How Does the Quote by Henry Ford, the King of Cars, Enrich Your Life?
Here, I would like to introduce the words that influenced me the most. This is a quote by Henry Ford, the American who created a society where anyone could ride in an automobile.
“Most people think of success as something to get. But the truth of the matter is that success is giving.”
These words bring immeasurable and beneficial wisdom to your life and daily routine.
Modern society constantly urges you to “get more.” Money, status, the evaluation of others. However, just chasing after those things leaves the heart dry and full of anxiety at any time.
The secret to a successful life lies in the exact opposite. When you turn to the side of “giving” something to someone, worries about human relationships are distinctively resolved. Giving a smile to your family, giving words of gratitude to a colleague, or delivering wonderful goods and services to society.
There is no life more valuable than delivering wonderful goods, services, products, and works to many people. A life that is not useful to others is meaningless. The great figures of history teach us that.
Goya, too, is “giving” his everything to you through this painting. He uses the memory of his suffering unsparingly to give you the courage to live. When you know the joy of giving to others rather than receiving from them, your every day begins to shine as if completely transformed.
How Do the Hardships and Setbacks Goya Experienced in Life Resolve Your Anxieties?
What Was the Unbelievable Tragedy That Assaulted the Painter Goya?
From a young age, Goya’s talent was recognized, and as the principal court painter for the Spanish royal family, he acquired all wealth and fame. He was living a brilliant life that could be called the standard for a top-tier figure.
However, at the age of 46, he fell ill with a serious, unidentified disease. Although he escaped with his life, he completely lost his hearing. A world without sound. The whispers of people and beautiful music would never be heard by him again.
Furthermore, as if to deal a finishing blow, his homeland of Spain was invaded by Napoleon’s army, and the streets were turned into a sea of blood. The friends he trusted left one after another, and his surroundings were filled with betrayal and terror.
By Knowing His Setbacks, Why Is Your Heart Saved?
Haven’t you also experienced despair to the point of thinking “it’s all over,” urgent problems, or betrayals in your life?
Goya, who could no longer hear, told himself in the depths of despair that there was no need to give up. Because he could not hear external sounds, he began to quietly observe the “voices” deep within the human heart.
The Third of May 1808 in Madrid is the cry of a soul painted by Goya, who scraped his own life away after losing his hearing and witnessing the horrors of war.
“I painted it. Their terror, and my terror,”
Goya himself also stated.
This is a work created by a person who overcame such hardships. In front of this painting, the worries about work you hold right now or your anxiety about the future are all gently embraced. Through his own setbacks, Goya delivers a powerful message to you, as if tailor-made, that “no matter what darkness you are in, the light of your soul will not go out.”
What Is the Reason This Piece Is Called a Masterpiece?
What Was the Expression That Innovatively Changed the Conventional “True Value of Painting”?
There is clear evidence for why this work is called the motionless supreme masterpiece in world art history. Until then, history paintings usually depicted war beautifully as the “brilliant victory of heroes.”
However, Goya completely overturned that. He was the first in the world to denounce the “true misery of war” where nameless ordinary citizens are brutally killed.
The faces of the French soldiers on the right side of the painting are not depicted at all. They turn their backs colitically, like cold killing machines. In contrast, the faces of the citizens being killed are depicted with a furious brushwork and a refined reality, showing individual terror, anger, and resignation.
Goya changed the standard of painting. He held the paintbrush not to decorate beauty, but to reflect the true form of human beings. That is exactly why this painting rivets your heart across generations.
What Makes It So Vastly Different from the Works of Contemporary Rivals?
During this era, a style represented by Jacques-Louis David called “Neoclassicism” was popular in France. The figure of Napoleon drawn by David is astride a white horse, full of ideal and heroic dignity. It was a beauty of undisclosed lies—that is to say, propaganda.
Please compare them. What Goya chose was the muddy, raw form of human beings with blood flowing through them. If David’s paintings are like perfectly calculated sculptures, Goya’s paintings stimulate emotions to the point where you can almost hear the screams right now.
Which one sides with your heart? A standard painting made only of beautiful stories cannot heal your true loneliness. The reason Goya overwhelmed his rivals and became a historical masterpiece is that he faced the weakness and strength of you, a single human being, with absolute sincerity.
I Will Sincerely Answer 5 of Your Doubts Regarding Finding Closeness with Art!
Regarding the value of art, I will sincerely answer the honest doubts and counterarguments you might hold here. Please rest assured. None of them are difficult problems at all.
Doubt 1: “Even if I look at a painting, it doesn’t directly solve my living expenses for tomorrow or my tasks at work, does it?”
Certainly, even if you look at a painting, the balance in your bank account does not directly increase, nor do the documents on your desk automatically get tidied up.
However, please imagine. When you are exhausted and your heart is about to break, what supports your spirit?
A wonderful painting replenishes your worn-out heart with an energy of room to breathe. Once the spirit is saved, one’s perspective broadens, work ideas are born, and as a result, everything goes well. Art is a practical tool that powerfully supports your reality.
Doubt 2: “Is there any meaning in looking at it if I don’t have knowledge of art or historical background?”
That is a major misunderstanding. A work that cannot be enjoyed without knowledge is, by strict standards, a work without power.
If you touch it many times, look at it many times, think about it many times, and absorb various kinds of knowledge, and as a result, you do not feel charm in the work before your eyes, or you cannot look at that work for a long time, then that work is still a poorly made work without power. A work that cannot convince you is a dud.
A truly historical masterpiece will instantly rivet the hearts of many people, including you, even without prior knowledge. Your intuition is your most reliable aesthetic eye.
Doubt 3: “Goya’s painting is dark and scary, but can it really heal my heart?”
You might think, “If I want to feel happy, I should look at bright paintings.” However, the human psychology is a mysterious thing.
When you are truly sad, if you listen to a boundlessly bright pop song, don’t you feel even more lonely? Rather, listening to a quiet, sad song should calm your heart. In psychology, this is called the “homeomorphic effect.”
The overwhelming darkness and human cries drawn by Goya resonate deeply with the “loneliness you cannot tell anyone about” inside you. Because the painting cries in your place, a mysterious pleasure and deep healing arrive after you finish viewing it.
Doubt 4: “I’m busy and don’t have time to go to a museum. Isn’t an image on the internet enough?”
We live in an era where you can see paintings on your smartphone anytime and anywhere. That is a very convenient thing.
However, allow me to dare to say it. The aura possessed by a real painting cannot be obtained through a screen. The Third of May 1808 in Madrid is a huge canvas exceeding 2.6 meters in height and 3.4 meters in width.
When you stand before it, you will experience the air of the scene from 200 years ago, Goya’s violent brush marks, and the thickness of the paint with your entire body. There is a difference as vast as a movie theater’s large screen compared to a smartphone screen. Experiencing the real thing even once in a lifetime engraves a lifelong impression into your life.
Doubt 5: “Isn’t contemporary art or new entertainment more stimulating and interesting?”
The stimulation of new movies, games, and SNS is alluring. However, they are consumed quickly and soon become things of the past.
On the other hand, Goya’s work is a “guaranteed” source of inspiration that has survived a time of over 200 years. A top-tier classic that has endured the trials of history has an accumulation of secret wisdom for discerning the essence of human beings. Classical art provides you, without strain, with a deep spiritual foundation that cannot be obtained just by chasing the latest trends.
What Do the Great Artists of the Past Give You, and What Kind of Problems Do They Allow You to Avoid?
What Is the Wonderful Gift the Great Artists Left Behind for You?
The great artists of the past left behind wonderful gifts to heal your heart. It is the “compass for living as a human being” that they found by risking their lives.
Leonardo da Vinci said this:
“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
Also, Vincent van Gogh left behind the following quote:
“To love is all art.”
These words and their works directly empower your daily life. When you are lonely and about to lose sight of your own value, their works affirm you just as you are, as if tailor-made, saying “You are not wrong” and “It’s fine to be just as you are.”
What Is the Important Thing You Lose If You Do Not Familiarize Yourself with Art?
If you completely eliminate art from your daily life, what will happen?
Your every day might become like a dry, flavorless machine, simply chasing efficiency and numbers. Fearing the eyes of others, trembling at the harsh standards of society, and having your spirit completely dry up. That is far too wasteful for you, who wish to live a life without regrets.
People who do not touch art gradually lose the invisible “room in the heart” and “empathy for others,” which are the most attractive parts of being human. The artists of the past allow you to avoid falling into the trap of such a tedious and cold life before it even happens.
3 Reasons Why Familiarizing Yourself with This Piece Exerts a Good Influence on Your Life and Living
By familiarizing yourself with masterpieces from all times and places, starting with The Third of May 1808 in Madrid, the quality of your living will be innovatively enhanced. I will explain three concrete merits.
Reason 1: You Will Acquire an “Eye-Opening Insight” to Discern the Nuances of Others’ Emotions
Staring quietly at Goya’s painting becomes a training to read the “voiceless emotions” behind the expressions of the characters.
When this is applied to daily life, human relationships in your workplace or home will go dramatically well. You will become able to notice small changes in a subordinate or the hidden loneliness of a partner, and your likability will become high enough to see a complete transformation.
Reason 2: A “Motionless Mental State” That Does Not Break Even in Unreasonable Situations Is Obtained
Goya’s way of life, painting his convictions to the end even under desperate circumstances, gives you powerful courage.
When you make a big mistake at work, or when you receive unreasonable criticism, please remember the resolute figure of the man in the white shirt in this painting. You will be able to regain an objective perspective, thinking “Compared to Goya’s hardships, a problem of this level can be overcome at any time,” and handle troubles calmly.
Reason 3: The Sensibility to Find a “Luxurious Time” in the Trifling Moments of Daily Life Is Refined
Continuing to touch top-tier art changes the standard of your sense of beauty.
The beauty of the sunset on the way home, the comfort of the sound of rain, the warm gaze of a person. Sceneries of daily life that you had overlooked until now turn into beautiful scenes, as if they were a single painting or the stage of a story. Even without spending money, every day changes into something comfortable anytime and anywhere, attractive enough to make you fall in love with it.
Where Is This Historical Masterpiece Waiting for You Now?
“I understand that it is wonderful, but where can I see that painting by Goya?”
Thank you for waiting. I will inform you of the location for your sake.
The Third of May 1808 in Madrid is currently on permanent display at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.
The Prado Museum is a palace of tradition and dignity that boasts the world’s highest level of painting collections. This painting is cherished and protected under very strict management as a national treasure. It cannot be obtained by going to any other museum. It is a unique miracle that can only be tasted on-site.
Please make an opportunity at the earliest possible time, or as the centerpiece of a lifelong travel plan, and take a step to Madrid. I guarantee that when you stand before that huge canvas, a new chapter of your life will open its curtains.
Let Us Continue Together with the Art Meant to Heal Your Heart
Thank you very much for listening to my important story for such a long time.
The protagonist of this text is no one else but you.
All the masterpieces from all times and places are still passed down to many people today because they can heal your heart. Wonderful music, literature, painting, sculpture, and movies are things that salvage your spirit.
I, Mimi Takamizawa, am also producing works everyday with strict standards and absolute sincerity, for the sake of your smile and to comfort your heart. I am always waiting for that moment when “Your Eyes, My Eyes” connect.
If you have any questions about this work by Goya, or about art, or if you have inner thoughts that you cannot tell anyone, please feel free to contact me at this email address. No matter how small a matter it is, I will correspond with sincerity for your sake.
corotakamizawa@gmail.com
May your every day ahead become something full of a relaxed room to breathe, shining even more together with wonderful art. I am supporting you from the bottom of my heart.
