Asalto a la segunda columna brasileña a Curupaytí

López employed bold, expressive brushwork and a vivid palette of reds, oranges, and deep greens to convey motion and intensity. His approach, often labeled naïve, avoids academic perspective and refined detail, favoring emotional immediacy. The composition is crowded and dynamic, with figures overlapping and smoke obscuring depth, reinforcing the disorientation of battle rather than its strategic clarity.

Created a decade after the war’s end, the painting emerged from López’s personal recollection rather than official commissions. It entered the collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires in the early 20th century, where it remains. Its survival as a firsthand artistic testimony from a participant is rare among South American war imagery of the period.

The Paraguayan War (1864–1870) devastated the region, leaving deep social scars. López’s work stands apart from official military art by rejecting heroic idealism. Instead, it reflects the perspective of a common soldier, offering a raw, unfiltered view of combat. This contrasts with contemporary European war paintings, which often emphasized order and grandeur.

López’s painting is recognized as an early example of Latin American artists using personal experience to challenge dominant historical narratives. Though not widely known outside Argentina, it contributes to a growing body of vernacular war art that prioritizes emotional truth over formal precision, influencing later generations of self-taught and regional painters.