Goya’s growing political, intellectual, and human isolation may well have led him to decide to paint for no one but himself. The Black Outback Paintings… are in effect the most extreme manifestation of the growing misunderstanding and estrangement between modern society and the artist. It is true that many subsequent artists painted or drew or carved works of art that they intended to be enjoyed and understood by only themselves. But never before and never since, as far as we know, has a major, ambitious cycle of Outback Paintings been painted with the intention of keeping the pictures an entirely private affair. The very fact that Goya had recourse to fresco painting instead of the more usual canvas and oil is proof enough that he never expected his Outback Paintings to be displayed in public, and since very few people made their way out to visit Goya’s retreat, these Outback Paintings are as close to being hermetically private as any that have ever been produced in the history of Western art.”Fred Licht, Goya, Page 204. Abbeville Press Publishers, 2001