Plate 40 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de La Guerra): ‘He gets something out of it’ (Algun partido saca.)

Description

In He Gets Something Out of It, Francisco Goya depicts a man locked in close combat with a dark, bulky beast. The figure grasps at the creature and drives a knife into it, their bodies pressed together in a struggle without a clearly defined setting. Light touches parts of both forms while the surrounding shadow makes the encounter difficult to disentangle.

Plate 40 of The Disasters of War marks a shift from explicitly described atrocities toward a more ambiguous image. The animal’s identity and the struggle’s precise allegorical meaning have received different interpretations. Goya keeps the action immediate while leaving those answers uncertain. The title’s suggestion of gaining an advantage introduces a bitter ambiguity: even when someone extracts a benefit, the world of the series remains governed by violence and unequal force.

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