Glorious to Gruesome: Callot, Goya, and Picasso, and the Art of War

Abstract

This paper compares the works of Jacques Callot, Francesco Goya, and Pablo Picasso in their representations of war as gruesome. Each of these artists lived through war and captured the instances in time that stood out to them, and used art to portray the horrors of those moments to the world. While many artists throughout history have demonstrated war as heroic, mighty generals as stoic, or battles as exciting, these three artists represent the darker sides of war through depiction with their use style, color, and imagery. Demonization was used by these artists to brutalize the enemy, condemning them forever through oils, etches, and Cubism. Finally, their use of drama was used to pull in their audience and invite them into a world of tragedy and terror, whether they are willing to or not.