They are Dying

A gaunt man in tattered clothes sits clutching a basket. He is starving, as suggested by the title of the drawing: Se muer[en] (They are dying). On the other side of the emaciated figure, faces stare out from the shadows. Another basket sits empty in the foreground.

The rough and energetic handling of black chalk expresses the seriousness of the subject matter in this drawing of intense pathos. This drawing comes from "Album G," one of the two albums Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes compiled when he was living in Bordeaux at the end of his life. Many of the sheets from the series show Goya's interest in representing people on the fringes of society. He often chose disturbing subject matter to point out humanity's injustice and hypocrisy.