"El sueño de la razón produce monstruos" (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters), Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter, 1746-1828.
What are the properties that characterise a delicate monster? Force and the power to intimidate us? Or fragility and the ability to show true vulnerability?
If a "monster" can be described by the following definitions:
an animal or plant of unusual and alarming form or structure
a terrifying force, something unusually large for its kind
something whose behaviour or character deviates from the norm or a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, maliciousness and cruelty
something that is extraordinarily successful
and "delicate" means:
pleasant to the senses
characterised by lovely, enticing colours, lines and proportions
possessing a fine structure, composition or nature, tactful and adept
having a weak constitution or health, fragile
easily damaged or unsettled, requiring careful, adroit handling
characterised by pronounced sensitivity and precision
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