From Van Gogh to Goya: ‘Loving Vincent’ Creators Unveil Goya-Inspired Animated Horror Feature, ‘Cave of Dreams’

The creators behind the world’s first fully oil-painted feature film, the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent (2017), are preparing to tackle another artistic giant, but with a significantly darker twist. Filmmakers Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela are developing a horror-infused animated feature inspired by the Spanish master Francisco Goya, with the working title “Cave of Dreams” (Goya: Cave of Dreams).

Welchman announced the project at a co-production session at Iberseries in Madrid, revealing that the film will utilize the same painstaking “painted animation” technique that brought Vincent Van Gogh’s work to life.

While Loving Vincent explored the final years of Van Gogh’s life, Cave of Dreams will focus on the most unsettling period of Goya’s career—his later work and the infamous “Black Paintings.”

Goya, who lived from 1746 to 1828, is considered one of Spain’s most important artists. After an illness left him profoundly deaf at age 46, his work took a darker, more psychological turn, culminating in a series of 14 murals painted directly onto the walls of his house, known collectively as “The Black Paintings.” These works, which include the iconic Saturn Devouring His Son, are known for their intensely gloomy and frightening subject matter, making them a perfect foundation for an animated horror film.

“Our next project is going to be based on the paintings of Goya and mainly on his dark paintings and his later work. It’s going to be a ‘painted-animation’ horror film,” Welchman stated

The process of creating a painted animated feature is exceptionally labor-intensive. Loving Vincent required 125 professional oil painters to hand-paint every single frame—an estimated 65,000 paintings in total—in the style of Van Gogh.

For Cave of Dreams, Welchman and Kobiela, working through their Poland-based indie label Breakthru Films, are currently assembling a large team of Spanish artists to faithfully translate Goya’s style and palette into the moving frames.

The film is already securing co-production partners in Spain, including Spanish filmmaker Alba Sotorra and David Baute’s Tinglado Films, highlighting the scale of this ambitious international project.

Following the success of The Peasants (2023) and Loving Vincent, “Cave of Dreams” marks the next chapter in the filmmakers’ commitment to revolutionizing the world of animated feature films by treating every frame as a unique work of art.