"Disasters of War" is a commentary on the brutality and senselessness of war. Begun during the Napoleonic invasion and occupation of Spain (1808-1814), and published posthumously in 1863, this series of prints raises the visual horrors of war to a new level. Goya's imagery is visually more modern than the earlier depictions of violence found in the prints of Dutch and French artists. Here graphic scenes of torture, rape, mutilation, and execution confront the viewer with the physicality and psychology of human suffering. Goya is perhaps the first Western artist to capture the terrorism of war in the modern age.
Details
- Artist Name: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828)
- Title: Desastres de la Guerra: And They Are Like Wild Beasts (Y Son Fieras)
- Date: 1863
- Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint, burin, and burnisher on wove paper
- Edition: 1st edition b
- Dimensions: sheet: 9 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (24.13 x 32.38 cm); plate: 6 1/8 x 8 1/4 in. (15.56 x 20.95 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1968.03.05.G
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
The Norton Simon Foundation.
To Do Battle: Conflict, Struggle, and Symbol in Art
- Norton Simon Museum, 2002-03-08 to 2002-07-08
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 400 p. 293
- Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Goya in the Norton Simon Museum, 2016, cat. 64 pp. 115 (ill.), 173, 174, 268
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