artist information:
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Artist Background: Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881 and died in France in 1973. Picasso is credited as a founder of cubism and surrealism, and spent many of his most successful years in Paris, France. Picasso became a member of the French Communist Party in 1944, and never left the party.
Artist Background: Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881 and died in France in 1973. Picasso is credited as a founder of cubism and surrealism, and spent many of his most successful years in Paris, France. Picasso became a member of the French Communist Party in 1944, and never left the party.
"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who only has eyes if he's a painter, ears if he's a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he's a poet – or even, if he's a boxer, only some muscles? Quite the contrary, he is at the same time a political being constantly alert to the horrifying, passionate or pleasing events in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How is it possible to be uninterested in other men and by virtue of what cold nonchalance can you detach yourself from the life that they supply so copiously? No, painting is not made to decorate apartments. It's an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy."
- Pablo Picasso
- Pablo Picasso
artwork information:
Title: Guernica
Medium: oil painting on canvas (mural-size)
Dimensions: 11’5” x 25’6”
Date of Creation: April - June 1937
History of the Work Itself: Guernica was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the centerpiece of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair. The painting was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City upon direction from Picasso that the work must not be given to Spain until the Republican party had established a stable government. The painting now resides at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (The Queen Sofia National Art Museum).
Medium: oil painting on canvas (mural-size)
Dimensions: 11’5” x 25’6”
Date of Creation: April - June 1937
History of the Work Itself: Guernica was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the centerpiece of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World’s Fair. The painting was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City upon direction from Picasso that the work must not be given to Spain until the Republican party had established a stable government. The painting now resides at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (The Queen Sofia National Art Museum).
"My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. In the picture I am painting — which I shall call Guernica — I am expressing my horror of the military caste which is now plundering Spain into an ocean of misery and death."
-Pablo Picasso
guernica is Based on...
Reflection:
The 1937 bombing of Basque village Guernica by the Nazis during the Spanish Civil War. The civil war began when military leaders organized a coup against the then-Republican government. The rebels, dubbed "Nationalists," received support from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while the Republicans, or “Loyalists” received aid from the Soviet Union and the International Brigades, which was a force comprised of European and American volunteers. Initially, the Nationalists and the Nazis denied responsibility for the bombing of Guernica, and later claimed that they had been aiming to take out a bridge in order to hinder the Republican forces. However, the bridge remained untouched because all of the damage was focused on civilian homes and markets. The bombing is regarded as having been a test of a new method: breaking Republican spirit by slaughtering innocent civilians. Over 1,600 people were killed, about a third of the village’s population.
Even without looking too closely at this painting, Guernica incites agitation and fear. The color scheme is dark and gloomy, and Picasso’s use of cubism adds to the sense of chaos in the painting. Almost every figure in the work, including the bull, is looking upwards with their mouths stretched open. They seems to be screaming in terror and, perhaps calling for help from the heavens or merely directing their attention to the source of the bombs: the sky. A ceiling and basement light give the context of the setting: a basement. Details like these definitively identify that the painting’s topic is the bombing even though the work is semi-abstract. A mother holds her dead baby in anguish, which may be an allusion to Michelangelo’s Pieta, a sculpture of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus. Picasso does a fantastic job making the viewer care about the subjects of the painting. Through their body language and facial expressions I understand the pure animalistic fear they must feel. Because the subjects are a medley of humans and animals, young and old, male and female, it is as if Picasso meant to say that the bombing affected everyone. All of the subjects in the painting, regardless of whether they are human, look like wild animals because of the panic they feel.
This is an anti-war painting. It was commissioned to be displayed in front of the world at the World’s Fair, and shows Picasso’s distress over the bloodshed in his home country. In most retellings of the story of the bombing, and certainly in Picasso’s painting, the attack was an immense violation of human rights. Even the most basic of rights, the right to live, was seized from innocent civilians when the Nazis bombed Guernica. The purpose of a government should be to serve the people whom it governs. Thus, the rights of the individual and the rights of society should be placed above the rights of the government. The rights of the government should be in place only to serve the people, so the Germans, who were helping the Nationalists, had no right to inflict such violence on civilians. Civil wars seems to be some have some the most brutal war crimes, possibly because the line of government and civilian are so blurred. Civil wars are tragic because they often pit civilian-on-civilian, or military-on-civilian. Wars fought within a nation concentrate the damage to that single nation, and force society to be involved, or to choose a side, whether they like it or not.
This is an anti-war painting. It was commissioned to be displayed in front of the world at the World’s Fair, and shows Picasso’s distress over the bloodshed in his home country. In most retellings of the story of the bombing, and certainly in Picasso’s painting, the attack was an immense violation of human rights. Even the most basic of rights, the right to live, was seized from innocent civilians when the Nazis bombed Guernica. The purpose of a government should be to serve the people whom it governs. Thus, the rights of the individual and the rights of society should be placed above the rights of the government. The rights of the government should be in place only to serve the people, so the Germans, who were helping the Nationalists, had no right to inflict such violence on civilians. Civil wars seems to be some have some the most brutal war crimes, possibly because the line of government and civilian are so blurred. Civil wars are tragic because they often pit civilian-on-civilian, or military-on-civilian. Wars fought within a nation concentrate the damage to that single nation, and force society to be involved, or to choose a side, whether they like it or not.
Click "Read more" for sources
works cited
"Guernica - Bombing of Guernica." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/1_
bombing.html>.
"Guernica - Questions of Meaning." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/5
_meaning.html>.
"Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso." Pablo Picasso. N.p., 2009. Web. 10
June 2015. <http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp>.
Shabi, K. "Guernica Meaning: Analysis & Interpretation of Painting by
Pablo Picasso." Legomenon. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 10 June
2015. <http://legomenon.com/guernica-meaning-analysis-of-
painting-by-pablo-picasso.html>.
"Spanish Civil War | 3 Minute History." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Dec.
2014. Web. 10 June 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iJWg4ws7bQ8>.
"Spanish Civil War | Spanish History." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558032/Spanish-
Civil-War>.
Warr, Philippa. "Massacre in Korea - Picasso (Part 3: Versus
Guernica)." Arts in the Right Place. Wordpress, 13 Feb. 2011. Web.
10 June 2015. <https://artsintherightplace.wordpress.com/2011/
02/13/massacre-in-korea-picasso-part-3-versus-guernica/>.
<http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/1_
bombing.html>.
"Guernica - Questions of Meaning." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/5
_meaning.html>.
"Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso." Pablo Picasso. N.p., 2009. Web. 10
June 2015. <http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp>.
Shabi, K. "Guernica Meaning: Analysis & Interpretation of Painting by
Pablo Picasso." Legomenon. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 10 June
2015. <http://legomenon.com/guernica-meaning-analysis-of-
painting-by-pablo-picasso.html>.
"Spanish Civil War | 3 Minute History." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Dec.
2014. Web. 10 June 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=iJWg4ws7bQ8>.
"Spanish Civil War | Spanish History." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558032/Spanish-
Civil-War>.
Warr, Philippa. "Massacre in Korea - Picasso (Part 3: Versus
Guernica)." Arts in the Right Place. Wordpress, 13 Feb. 2011. Web.
10 June 2015. <https://artsintherightplace.wordpress.com/2011/
02/13/massacre-in-korea-picasso-part-3-versus-guernica/>.