Kan niemand ons los maken? 1797 - 1799

Curator: Ah, this is plate 75 from Francisco de Goya’s Los Caprichos series. It’s titled "Kan niemand ons los maken?"— "Can't anyone untie us?" etched sometime between 1797 and 1799. Editor: My immediate impression? Entrapment. The figures, compositionally linked to the giant bird looming above, appear caught. Curator: Precisely. Goya used etching to brilliant effect, creating deep contrasts. Look at how he’s captured the figures straining. One bends nearly double, while the other gesticulates in what feels like frustrated desperation. There’s a physical and psychological weight, no? Editor: Absolutely, a kind of subjugation rendered through stark light and shadow. What do you think about the title suggesting this lack of agency? Is this referencing the societal constraints placed upon people, perhaps especially women, in that era? Curator: I see it more broadly, you know? While Goya often critiqued social inequalities, especially in relation to women, I wonder if he is saying that human beings always make choices that will enslave themselves to some aspect or another. Perhaps Goya implies, a sad but real freedom, even if bound by some choice? Editor: That's interesting—considering personal enslavement over social injustice, but, look closer: they're carrying this monstrous owl-like figure together. Doesn’t it imply a shared burden or responsibility enforced by external constraints? Is it about the anxieties created and distributed during political power struggles or religious suppression in the era? Curator: Hmmm... there's that striking ambiguity which Goya is a master of. Yes, that burden may indeed imply an oppressor the two carry but remain unable to drop. An inescapable horror? Editor: I agree about ambiguity! Perhaps the brilliance lies in how easily we, even centuries later, project contemporary struggles onto its shadowy surface. Curator: Perhaps it's both. Art opens up precisely to be seen through the context and anxieties of our own eyes! But thanks for reminding us that their historical condition needs acknowledgment to fully embrace their artistic feat.