In the winter of 1819, Francisco de Goya was struck by a near-fatal illness that left him hovering between life and death. It was during his slow recovery in early 1820 that he painted Self-portrait with Dr Arrieta, a deeply personal tribute to the physician who, by Goya’s own account, "saved my life." This painting is unique among Goya’s works for its explicit gratitude: a rare moment when the artist, so often the chronicler of Spain’s darkness, turns his gaze inward to document his own vulnerability and the compassion of another. The scene unfolds in the sickroom: Goya, gaunt and ashen, slumps in bed, his body propped up by the attentive Dr Arrieta, who gently offers him a glass of medicine. Behind them, shadowy figures loom in the gloom, their indistinct forms suggesting the specter of death or the fevered hallucinations that haunted Goya during his illness.

Light falls directly on the faces of doctor and patient, highlighting the bond between them and transforming Arrieta into a figure of hope. Unlike the heroic doctors of David or the clinical detachment of Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, Goya’s treatment is intimate and deeply human, focusing on the emotional exchange rather than the medical drama. Painted in oil on canvas, Self-portrait with Dr Arrieta was never a public commission but rather a private act of thanks, as indicated by the inscription at the bottom where Goya dedicates the work to Arrieta.

The painting remained in the Arrieta family for decades before entering the collection of the Museo del Prado, where it now hangs. Created in the twilight of Goya’s life, this work stands at the threshold between his celebrated court portraits and the haunting Black Paintings that followed, capturing a rare moment of gratitude and survival in the artist’s turbulent final years.