They Have Flown, Plate 61

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

In the print series Los Caprichos , which translates as “caprices” or “artistic fantasies,” Francisco de Goya drew on his expansive imagination to comment on Spanish society. The artist’s critiques are not always clear, and many of the prints are intentionally ambiguous. Here, three witches support a young woman taking flight. Caught in the wind, her dress and veil transform her into a human butterfly, perhaps reflecting views at the time that characterized women as flighty. However, both the association of butterflies with life’s fragility and the presence of witches—often used by the artist to symbolize immorality and sex work—may instead invite a more sinister interpretation. When Los Caprichos was first published in 1799, the series was sold in a perfumery and liquor shop in Madrid.