Plate 17 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de la Guerra): ‘They do not agree.’ (No se convienen.)

Description

Wounded men sprawl across a chaotic setting in They Do Not Agree. Their damaged and disordered bodies make the title’s language of disagreement seem painfully inadequate to what conflict has produced. The encounter remains human in scale, allowing the consequences of opposition to be felt through the people left on the ground.

Goya’s etched design makes the subject part of a larger series in which war is examined through particular actions rather than heroic generalities. Fine worked marks and the close arrangement of the scene keep attention on the cost of what happens between people. The image’s force lies in its refusal to turn conflict into a clean narrative, leaving the viewer with a disagreement whose setting makes it far more dangerous than words alone.

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