Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)

Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1807 and 1808 brought about the abdication of the Spanish king, violent protests against the French erupted in Madrid. The uprising of May 2, 1808, marked the start of the armed Spanish resistance, which dragged on in guerrilla warfare until 1814. During the war, Goya documented his horror and outrage at the atrocities committed by soldiers and patriots in his series of 80 prints 'The Disasters of War'. Never before had a story of man's inhumanity been told so compellingly, every episode reported with compassion, honesty and respect for the victims. Not until 1863, thirty-five years after Goya's death, was the first of seven posthumous editions of the Disasters published by Spain's Royal Academy, which in 1862 purchased all eighty etched copperplates.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)Plate 26 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'One can't look' (No se puede mirar)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.