2
Expressions Through Painting
“S
hooting of May 3
rd
, 1808”
“Shooting of May 3
rd
, 1808” by Francisco Goya's was completed in the year 1814. It
depicts Napoleonic forces hunting down and killing Spanish guerillas after the Madrid uprising.
The picture shows the repressive troops' faces hidden beneath a veil, while the victims' features
are still visible.
Romanticism was the artistic trend that influenced the painting's creation. According to
Shui et al. (2021) the Romanticism movement sought to portray the most profound facets of
social and political existence. By revealing the faces of justice's victims, the artwork sought to
illustrate the concept of justice. Between the 1700s and 1830, this movement took place (Martin
et al., 2019). By allowing paintings to contain emotions, the work reached out to freedom and
expression.
The picture was done in a highly individualistic, inventive, and emotive manner by Goya.
The artwork expresses a viewpoint on open injustices when oppressors are not identified by the
concealing, and revealing of the faces of the troops and victims. The project outright exposed the
