Franciso Goya, The Third of May, 1808, 1814

Francisco de Goya’s experience and work for the series known as The Disasters of War culminate in one painting, The Third of May. The majority of the prints comprising The Disasters series were likely Goya’s personal recordings on War. Yet, it is through The Third of May that Goya achieves unequivocal mastery in displaying man’s savage, primitive, and bestial character. Goya’s ability to strongly display his opinion of man’s nature was accompanied by a different ability – being able to reject the art constructs.

Scenes depicting battle have constituted a noticeable amount of art. Yet, in The Third of May, unlike its predecessors, the viewer is given no sense of place in the battle that is ensuing. Rather, the viewer is thrown into the thick of war without any perspective as to where the perimeters of the battle are located. Through this Goya has forgone the traditional style of perspective in a battle scene and given us something rarely before seen in art.

The most heart-wrenching quality of this painting is the utter execution and erasing of the slain man. His figure is not made in the image of God, but rather that of an everyday man. Furthermore, the viewer is left with no intimation that a divine transition from life to death exists. We are only given his death. The austere conclusiveness cuts deeply.

Goya makes every subject in The Third of May anonymous. Through this anonymity the artist forces the observer to take a stance with the characters – truly something that sets him apart from his contemporaries. One could easily argue that the sheer terror and horror depicted in the scene evokes human emotion so strongly that it causes an analytical eye to stop and pause for a moment. Goya has successfully been able to leave the viewer bereft of any detachment from the characters and the scene – if you’re looking for the Giotto of the modern art movement, look no further.