by Francisco Goya, 1814
Francisco Goya painted The Second of May 1808 in 1814, showing the Madrid uprising against French occupation. Spanish civilians attack Mameluke cavalry (Egyptian soldiers serving Napoleon) in the Puerta del Sol. The scene explodes with violence: stabbing, shooting, horses rearing, bodies falling.
Unlike traditional battle paintings with clear heroes, chaos dominates. Friend and enemy tangle together in desperate combat. Goya captures the fury of popular resistance and the brutality it triggered. The earth tones and blood-reds create a palette of violence.
This painting pairs with The Third of May, showing uprising and retribution. The Prado displays them in the same gallery. Together they form a meditation on the futility and necessity of resistance against tyranny.
Other masterpieces from the Romanticism movement

John Constable, 1821
National Gallery, London

Théodore Géricault, 1819
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Eugène Delacroix, 1834
Louvre, Paris, Paris

J.M.W. Turner, 1839
National Gallery, London

Jean-François Millet, 1859
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Jean-François Millet, 1857
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Eugène Delacroix, 1827
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Thomas Cole, 1842
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
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