Goya's Painting example essay topic

GOYA: Truth and War On May 2nd 1808 the people of Madrid revolted against the French troops occupying their city. The following day the French retaliated. In the remembrance of this event Francisco de Goya painted The Third of May. The horrific scene takes place at night on a deserted hillside. The feeling of horror is conveyed by the use of lighting. Painted with intense emotional expression the Spaniards stand before there deaths.

The soldiers before them lined up with guns in hand and ready to fire. The Spaniard facial expression and body language differ slightly which conveys the methodical process of execution that each victim faced before and after their death. It is uncertain weather or not Goya actually witnessed these events. In any case his depiction of this event paints a horrific and dramatic picture, which evokes emotion that is quit undeniable.

As in some of his other works Goya represents the brutal truth of warfare. Goya's earlier work consists of the irrational or macabre, exploring worlds of dark fantasy. Paintings such as St. Francis and Borgia Exorcising or The Bogeyman is Coming represent his preoccupation with the unknown or strange. Goya's work focuses on both the potentials of human behaviour and the strong and unusual qualities of fantasy and reality. Observing an earlier painting such as The Bogeyman is Coming in comparison to the Third of May, Goya makes a shift in subject matter from an imagined fantasy to a real life event.

Although this change has occurred his element of the macabre are still present. The immediate impression of The Third of May is of terror and im moralized human behavior. The central figure holds out his arms like a man crucified with the body language of defiance. Bright whites and yellows are used in contrast to his surroundings contributing to the dramatic image.

The Spaniard's faces are drawn in detail giving each figure an identity. Their facial expressions show fear and despair. No longer is Goya using elements of horror and drama to represent an imagined event. This is a picture of reality, an event that occurred with every amount of terror and emotion that is expressed in this painting. His image of war is stripped of all myths revealing the brutal truths of human conflict. This was an idea he used in many of his works, for Goya himself was a conflicted man.

After 1808 Spain was occupied by Napoleonic forces and Goya witnessed first hand accounts of murder, rape, pillaging, and mutilation. He quietly recorded these events until Napoleons demise in 1814. During this 6 year period the brutalities and miseries of war that had occurred effected the lives of every Spaniard as well as the art of Goya. After the demise of Napoleon, Goya saw a chance to create a permanent remembrance of this time period.

The results were two large paintings recording May 2nd 1808 and May 3rd 1808 when the French shot suspected Spaniards without trial. Much like Gerricault's The Raft of Medusa, The Third of May portrays brutal human tragedy. These two paintings tell stories of heroism turned to horrific tragedy with scenes so close that the viewer is forced into the event. In-humanity has now become human.

Heroism and suffering now seem equally desperate and pathetic. Although these two paintings are scenes of tragedy, Goya's painting correlates more directly to war. He conveys war in its most brutal form giving the soldiers a machine like quality. They are lined up in almost identical positioning and attire. Each soldier is in the same tense stance, gripping his rifle as if it were a part of his body, anticipating the recoil of the shots to come. The line of the soldiers, as well as the Spaniards, fades into the distance as if this methodical execution is long lasting and the death of the central figure is only one of many.

This sense of progression is also apparent with the three stages of death in the center of the painting. Behind the central figure, Spaniards hold their hands over there faces awaiting in fear their unavoidable deaths. The central figure is at the next stage. His death is due at any moment as he stands Christ-like with his arms raised. This is a dramatic scene that is emphasized by Goya intense use of, choosing to paint this man in high contrast to his surrounding. The final stage of this execution is represented by the dead man lying on the ground.

His arms are mimicking the exact pose of the central figure. This three piece pictorial tells a story within a story. It better illustrates to the viewer the actions that took place on the third of May. Goya's depictions of war later influenced such artists as Pablo Picasso and Edouard Manet. Picasso reworked Goya's The Third of May into a modern day political painting. Picasso brought his own unique style to his rendition of the painting and confronted the problems associated with the horrors of war and the eternal theme of violence just as Goya did in the original.

Edouard Manet's painting is not a rework but at first glance there could be much confusion between the two. The Execution of Emperor Maximilian was painted many years after The Third of May and was obviously influenced by Goya. In The Execution of Emperor Maximilian the warm soft colors have been replace by black and cold greens. Sentimentality has been lost. In contrast to Manet's painting, The Third of May is deeply emotional and dramatic, emphasized by Goya's use of bright whites and dark browns and blacks. Manet's painting seems photographic and documentary, a complete opposite to Goya's The Third of May.

Manet and Goya's topics were somewhat alike but their approach and effect were quit different. Likely to be influenced by Jacques Callot's earlier works such as Les Caprices, Les Bohemians, and Les Grandes Miseries de la Guerre, Goya completed The Disasters of War. These were the accounts of violence that Goya recorded during France's presence in Spain. It consisted of eighty etchings and wasn't published until 1863. In these etchings Goya illustrates the horrible war-like violence that took place in Spain. These images are done with the same pitiless honesty that Goya used in the Third of May.

Obscure, curious and irrational elements were still apparent in his art. In his eighty-two year life span Goya painted images that were sinister, dark, dramatic and tragic but at the same time intriguing and truthful. Goya's depictions of war were honest delving into human behavior and wars brutal im moralizing of human action. Goya found violence and degradation in life and humanity. His portrayal of these elements in his paintings communicated to his viewers the undeniable truths of humanity.