"Two Men Fighting" – after Francisco Goya
@notattoo_berlin  @visionsofecstasy.studio
— Jorge

This tattoo is based directly on Two Men Fighting, a drawing by Francisco Goya dating from approximately 1812 to 1820. Unlike other works in which I use historical paintings and drawings as starting points for new interpretations, here my intention was to remain as faithful as possible to the original. The composition, the figures, and the character of Goya's marks were preserved, with the drawing transferred into the different material and technical conditions of tattooing.

Goya's original was executed with brush, black and grey wash, and black ink over graphite. These relatively simple materials allowed him to develop an image of considerable expressive force, concentrating on the physical confrontation between two figures. There is no elaborate setting or detailed background. The composition is almost entirely occupied by the bodies, their gestures, and the tension created by their movement.

The absence of a clearly defined environment is an important characteristic of the drawing. Without architectural references or surrounding details, the viewer's attention remains focused on the confrontation itself. The figures are engaged in a physical struggle, but the circumstances leading to it are unknown. There is no indication of who they are, what has caused the conflict, or how it might end. The image concentrates on the action rather than providing a narrative explanation.

This directness is closely connected to Goya's treatment of the human figure. The bodies are constructed through energetic brushstrokes, with areas of black ink establishing their forms and lighter washes suggesting movement and volume. The drawing does not depend on precise anatomical description. Instead, its expressive character emerges from the relationship between the figures, the direction of their gestures, and the apparent immediacy of the marks.

Goya's work frequently examined violence, human behaviour, and the contradictions of society. His drawings and prints often departed from the conventions of idealised representation, presenting the human condition through images that could be disturbing, ambiguous, or deliberately uncomfortable. In Two Men Fighting, this interest is concentrated into a relatively simple composition, where the physical confrontation becomes the principal subject.

What interested me particularly was the economy of the drawing. Very little is needed to establish the violence of the encounter. The figures are not surrounded by symbolic objects or explanatory details. Their bodies and movements are sufficient to communicate the intensity of the situation. The image remains powerful precisely because it does not attempt to explain everything it represents.

The decision to reproduce the drawing as a tattoo introduced a different technical challenge. Goya worked with fluid materials on paper, where the pressure and movement of the brush could produce immediate variations in thickness, density, and transparency. Tattooing requires those same qualities to be translated through needles and pigment deposited into the skin.

My intention was not to redesign the figures or reinterpret their gestures, but to preserve the character of Goya's original marks as closely as the medium would allow. The irregular lines, dark concentrations of ink, and more delicate passages were all important to maintaining the identity of the drawing. The challenge was to make the image function as a tattoo without losing the expressive qualities that made it interesting in the first place.

This distinction between reproduction and reinterpretation is particularly relevant to the work. In much of my artistic practice, historical imagery becomes material for new compositions. Existing paintings and drawings are transformed, displaced, or placed in different contexts. Here, the process follows another direction. The original image remains intact in its conception, while its material support changes from paper to human skin.

That change is significant in itself. A drawing made more than two centuries ago, originally intended to exist on paper, becomes part of a living body. Its historical context remains important, but its presence acquires another dimension through the person who chooses to wear it. The image moves beyond the museum or archive without requiring a new composition to justify its continued relevance.

There is also something particularly interesting about the persistence of Goya's visual language. Despite the historical distance separating the original drawing from the present, the confrontation remains immediately recognisable. The tension between the figures requires little explanation. Violence, fear, anger, and physical struggle continue to be understood through gestures that have changed remarkably little.

This capacity to communicate across different periods is one of the reasons I return to historical drawing. Certain images remain relevant not because their original circumstances are fully understood, but because their treatment of human experience continues to be recognisable.

In this tattoo, the intention was to preserve that direct relationship with the original. Rather than adding new elements or developing an alternative interpretation, I wanted to allow Goya's drawing to exist in another medium while retaining its composition, movement, and expressive intensity.

Two Men Fighting remains a historical work, but its translation into tattooing establishes a new relationship between the image, its material, and the person carrying it. The drawing belongs to Goya. The tattoo becomes another moment in its history.

nOT