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The Third of May 1808

Francisco Goya · 1814

Goya's painting of French soldiers executing Spanish civilians during Napoleon's occupation of Madrid, showing the occupied peoples' view of his wars.

Depicts French soldiers under Napoleon's occupation executing Spanish civilians, the occupied people's view of his wars.

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Painting of a nighttime execution. On the left, a man in a white shirt and yellow trousers throws his arms up while other prisoners cover their faces or kneel. Bodies lie bloodied on the ground in the foreground. On the right, a row of soldiers in dark shakos aims muskets at the prisoners, beside a lantern-lit box. A town with a church tower sits under a dark sky.
Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

About this source

What it is

The Third of May 1808 is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It shows French troops executing Spanish civilians in Madrid in 1808, during the Peninsular War that followed Napoleon's occupation of Spain. It hangs today in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Why it matters

Goya painted this work to commemorate Spanish resistance after the restoration of the Spanish king, following the French occupation under Napoleon, who had placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. The painting broke with earlier traditions of war art, showing the horror and suffering of ordinary people rather than heroism. It gives a view of Napoleon's empire from the perspective of the people it conquered, and it influenced later anti-war art.

Look closer

  • How does Goya's painting differ from traditional paintings that glorify war and conquest?
  • Why do you think Goya chose to show the victims' faces but not the faces of the soldiers?
  • What does this painting suggest about how occupied people experienced Napoleon's rule?

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