Plate 35 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de La Guerra): ‘One Can’t Tell Why.’ (No se puede saber por qué.)

Description

Francisco Goya’s One Cannot Tell Why presents a row of executed men bound to posts in a dark setting. Crosses and objects displayed against their bodies repeat across the line, yet the arrangement supplies no convincing explanation for what has happened. The figures’ stillness and the absence of a responsive crowd make the scene feel closed and chillingly systematic.

Plate 35 of The Disasters of War expands the subject of arbitrary punishment from one victim to many. Its title withholds the certainty usually offered by official acts of judgment. Goya’s repetition makes the men part of a process, but their differing bodies preserve their individuality within it. The print asks the viewer to recognize how easily formal signs of authority can coexist with a failure to account for the lives they destroy.

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