The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

Black and grey print with sketchy lines of three people wearing dresses and hugging their knees as they fly, supporting another figure standing, legs and arms spread out. This person wears a low-cut white top with a dark skirt and holds a black veil between their hands, it and their black hair fanning out behind them. They wear a hat that appears like butterfly wings and have drooping eyelids and a downturned mouth.

They Have Flown, Plate 61

1799

Francisco de Goya

(Spanish, 1746–1828)
Spain, 18th century
etching and aquatint
Image: 18.6 x 12.9 cm (7 5/16 x 5 1/16 in.); Plate: 21.4 x 15 cm (8 7/16 x 5 7/8 in.); Sheet: 31.9 x 22.3 cm (12 9/16 x 8 3/4 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1956.272
Catalogue raisonné: Harris 96, 1st. edition, 1799; Perez Sanchez and Gallego p. 69 no. 61
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

When Los Caprichos was first published in 1799, the series was sold in a perfumery and liquor shop in Madrid.

Description

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.
  • ?–1956
    Mr. E. Weyhe, New York, NY, to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    August 23, 1956–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “Gifts of the Print Club of Cleveland.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 2 (February 1960): 28–35. Reproduced: p. 31 www.jstor.org
    Kruse, Jillian. Imagination in the Age of Reason: Prints and drawings showcase imagination's power." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 3 (2024): 6-7. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 7 archive.org
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
    Goya, Gericault and Delacroix. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-April 24, 1983).
  • {{cite web|title=They Have Flown, Plate 61|url=false|author=Francisco de Goya|year=1799|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1956.272