Robert Capa, Sicilian peasant telling an American officer which way the Germans had gone. Near Troina. Italy. August, 1943. 'Copyright 2001 Cornell Capa Photos by Robert Capa / Magnum Photos' in the upper left corner. Artist's dry stamp in the lower right corner of the image. Total dimensions: 41,5 x 31,5 cm on semi-gloss paper. Fine condition. Printed Lated, 2000's. This photograph distils with striking clarity the essence of Robert Capa’s work: war observed at the precise point where History intersects with human experience. A Sicilian peasant, worn yet resolute, points out the direction of the retreating German troops to an American soldier. There is no staged heroism here—only urgency, survival, and the fragile alliance between civilians and soldiers in newly liberated territory. Capa captured this scene during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily launched in July 1943, a decisive turning point that precipitated Mussolini’s fall and marked the beginning of the end for the Axis powers in Europe. Entering Troina—a heavily fortified hill town subjected to sustained bombardment—Capa advanced with the first American patrols and encountered civilians deeply scarred by weeks of siege. The power of the image lies in its perfect balance between document and symbol. The peasant’s gesture does more than indicate a military direction; it marks the passage from occupation to liberation, from fear to uncertain hope. True to his credo of getting “close enough,” Capa transforms a tactical moment into a universal image of war as a shared human condition. Robert Capa stands as a central figure in 20th-century photography, alongside artists such as: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gerda Taro, David “Chim” Seymour, Werner Bischof, Margaret Bourke-White, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Steichen, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Elliott Erwitt, Eve Arnold, Robert Doisneau, Philippe Halsman, Ansel Adams, Andreas Gursky, Sebastião Salgado, among many others. An essential work for collectors of historical and documentary photography: a visual testimony in which grand military strategy is condensed into a single, unrepeatable human gesture.