Utter Defeat

Juan Manuel Blanes "Paraguay: Image of Your Desolate Country"  c. 1880

This painting is in reference to a war in Paraguay fought between 1864-1870, called the War of Triple Alliance. This war was a struggle for physical power over boundary lines; and occurred in the midst of a nationalist movement, when the South American Spanish and Portuguese colonies were attempting to gain their own identities. It was proportionally the most destructive war in modern history; more than 60% of the Paraguayan population was wiped out. This painting shows the desolation of a fallen people after battle.

In the background, as you face the painting to the right, there is a dead man in the distance hanging on the ledge. His arms draped unromantically sideways and above his head. This figure looks very similar to an iconic image in the musical “Les Miserables”: The picture of the leader of the revolution, Enjolras, after he is killed, and his body is upside-down, arms stretched out above his head, splayed across the very barricade he gave his life to defend. The story of Enjolras in Les Mis is similar to the Paraguayan fight. The small Parisian insurrection that took place in 1832, where there were street riots and resistance for a couple of days, ended up being destructive and essentially useless. They accomplished next to nothing, except devastation.

In both images there is also a pseudo crucifix representation. But with the important alteration of being upside-down. The fact that this martyr figure -- this revolutionary -- fighting for beliefs, is lying dead, with his head toward the ground.  His head isn’t even upright, facing the heavens; there is a total lack of hope for redemption or resurrection

Both images of dead men upside-down on the ground he was defending, are so powerful. I think it is repeated because of the feeling it imposes on an audience: complete and utter defeat. There is a kind of sensation of absolute despair. Revolutionary men fighting for identity, country, and self -- and losing, with no hope at all.