Goya, the unlucky observer

• Source: Global Times
• [14:12 June 07 2010]
• Comments

Three original prints (top to bottom) Por una nabaja, Al cementerio, and Las camas de la muerte by Goya, currently on display in Shanghai. Photos: Courtesy of Miguel de Cervantes Library

By Guo Song  

 

A collection of 82 war-themed prints created by this legendary Spanish painter and printmaker, arguably one of the most influential artists in the history of the Western world, is now on display in Shanghai.

 

Goya, the Chronicler of All Wars: Disasters of War and War Photographs at the Miguel de Cervantes Library of the Consulate General of Spain features watercolor and copper prints by Goya, accompanied by photographs captured at a time of war in Spain.

This series of Goya's works was created between 1810 and 1820. They are a visual protest against the violence of the Spanish War of Independence from 1808 to 1814 and the disastrous consequences of the war.

Goya originally named these works Fatal Consequences of Spain's Bloody War with Bonaparte, and Other Emphatic Caprices, but they are now commonly referred to as the Disasters of War.

The prints in this exhibition have been grouped according to seven themes: "The Frontier," "Executions," "Casualties," "Famine," "Women in War," "After the War," and "The Homeless and Violence."

In "The Frontier," Goya's prints show the crimes of war by depicting the situation at the Spanish front. Other painters of the time portrayed grand war scenes and the brave soldiers, but Goya saw the other side of war, the darkness and chaos.

One work depicts commanders giving contradictory orders, and others show nurses treating wounded and dying soldiers.

In the "Executions," "Casualties" and "Women in War," Goya's works feature the senseless murder of war. By recording probably the most brutal and inhumane scenes, Goya expressed his condemna-tion of the killing.

The swords, gallows and the torture implements show Goya's abhorrence for the barbarity of the death penalty. Goya's work sometimes depicts unidentifiably mangled bodies and brutal torture.

In Goya's prints, women's bodies are depicted with more respect, and his works also show various images of women in war.

The works of the "Famine" section show the suffering of Madrid's citizens. In 1811, famine struck the capital of Spain.

Goya recorded the food shortage and the indifference of the invaders and the nobles. Some prints show the bodies of people who died of starvation strewn across the streets.