Sunday, January 1, 2017

Goya's Two peasants fighting and sinking in quicksand

They are so concerned with their quarrel that they do not appear to realize that they are sinking into quicksand.
Dr Abe V Rotor   
Two Peasants Fighting. Oil on plaster transferred to canvas (481/2" x 105"), Museo National del Prado, Madrid (1819-23) by  Francisco Goya, Spanish painter and muralist.

Explanation:

Goya painted the two peasants as an indictment against stubborn pride and senseless temper. A merciless critic of man's cruelty and folly, he attacks the ignorance not only of the nobleman, but the senseless dueling, but the peasant too, for there is no excuse for general brutality. 

They are hacking at one another with cudgels. Another painter might have soaked us in blood, but this picture is all browns and blues, and the restraint in his handling of the broken head is all the more telling. (Bernard Myers, Goya 1970) 

Applications:
  • Talangka or crab mentality
  • Matira ang matibay (Darwinian syndrome)
  • American Civil War
Cite and critique specific examples you are familiar with.


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