These figures are distinct characters and borderline caricatures, all engaged in grotesque and pitiable behaviour – one wears what seems to be a wild-feathered headdress, another is fighting in a tricorne hat, another makes a gesture of blessing to the viewer, whilst many of the others are naked.

[1][3] Speaking of the set of paintings that The Madhouse concluded, Goya said; "I have succeeded in making observations for which there is normally no opportunity in commissioned works, which give no scope for fantasy and invention.

Not published until 1863, thirty-five years after his death, the series shows the atrocities committed by Napoleon's forces during both the Dos de Mayo Uprising and the Peninsular War.

[4] Goya has become known for his depictions of these subjects of violence and suffering due to his willingness to leave out the beauty of art and instead create pieces that shock and disturb the viewer.

Some have argued that it exemplifies how Goya lost touch with the public (as it is not a work that one would typically hang in a home setting), while others have said that it fits in the same market as pieces that depict violence.

[5][6][7] It has also been debated how effective, if at all, this work was in the movement to reform asylums (led by Philippe Pinel and William Tuke), and if it was even attempting to cause change or was instead affirming the belief that the mentally ill should be confined and shackled.