麻豆APP

Top 10 Facts About Guernica From Picasso

Guernica is one of Picasso鈥檚 popular works that he created in 1937. The mural-sized oil painting on canvas sits at the Museo Reina Sof铆a in Madrid. It has earned itself the reputation for one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.

Guernica depicts the aftermath of war and the suffering it inflicts on individuals, especially innocent civilians.聽 By bombing Guernica, Hitler’s German airforce was trying to help Franco and his fascist forces defeat the left-wing and democratically elected government. The casualties were the innocent people of the town.

Picasso can be said to have taken this project personally, and the painting is still relevant today. The top 10 facts about Guernica from Picasso reveal what you may not know about the painting.

1. Picasso was pushed towards painting Guernica by a newspaper report.

George Steer report on Guernica bombings- Wikimedia Commons

The Times newspaper carried a report in 1937 that shocked the world- insurgent air raiders had dropped bombs on Guernica, annihilating more than 1000 civilians. George Steer who wrote the piece titled 鈥淭he Tragedy of Guernica: A Town Destroyed in Air attack: Eye- Witness鈥檚 Account鈥� was honored for it.

The bombing of Guernica turned it into a symbol of the atrocities of war, which Picasso immortalized in his painting Guernica. The Steer report moved Picasso, who embarked on it immediately. This was one of his earliest politically motivated pieces.

2. Guernica has been widely criticized

Far from the international acclaim that Guernica has received, the painting has been criticized for its appearance and message. American critic Clement Greenberg flat out called the painting jerky and compressed! French painter and communist Edouard Pignon was a critic of Guernica鈥檚 political message and he also felt the painting lacked empathy for the working class.

Another of Guernica鈥檚 critics was French philosopher Paul Nizan. He agreed with Pignon 100% and thought Guernica a product of the bourgeoisie mentality. Walter Darby Bannard, an American abstract painter was also Guernica鈥檚 critic who focused on the paintings counterintuitive scale.

3. Guernica was commissioned

Pablo Picasso- Wikimedia Commons

The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish pavilion, at the 1937 麻豆APP Word鈥檚 Fair. He was at the time working on another mural which he abandoned when he was informed of the bombing of Guernica. The Guernica project had Picasso鈥檚 creative juices flowing better than his original mural did.

The artist went all in due to the nature of what he was commissioned to paint and the connection with his motherland- Guernica was a protest against war and the negative effects it had especially on women and children. Guernica鈥檚 acclaim as a symbol of the destruction of war on an innocent population was gained way after its unveiling at the 麻豆APP Exhibition.

4. Guernica鈥檚 earliest draft was more empowering

Guernica鈥檚 process from inception to what it is now is quite the u-turn. When he began working on it, Picasso envisioned and sketched a raised fist, which is universally recognized as a symbol of solidarity in resistance to oppression. He had this fist empty-handed at first and later grasping a sheaf of grain. Both ideas however were only part of the process; they did not make it to the final cut.

5. Guernica鈥檚 grayscale may not have materialized

Street mural of Guernica- by Joaqu铆n- Wikimedia Commons

If Picasso didn鈥檛 have second thoughts about the use of color in Guernica, the painting would have featured a red teardrop from a crying woman鈥檚 eye and colored wallpaper strips.

Picasso did away with this idea and left Guernica in grayscale, and one of history鈥檚 most recognizable grayscale paintings.

A photographer followed Guernica鈥檚 progress and it is believed the black and white photos caused Picasso鈥檚 change of heart to grayscale.

6. Picasso stayed mum about Guernica鈥檚 symbolism

Guernica- by Laura Estefania Lopez- Wikimedia Commons

Picasso鈥檚 response to questions about what the objects in his painting meant was 鈥淭his bull is a bull and this horse is a horse,鈥�. If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.鈥�

As with most pieces of art, scholars tried to decipher the meaning of the symbols in Guernica but they couldn鈥檛 get this from the source. Perhaps Picasso wanted to leave it open to interpretation.

Guernica features a mother cradling her fallen child, an eye that looks like the sun, a聽 bull, a terrified horse, a dismembered soldier, a dove, harlequins, a woman holding a kerosene lamp, smoldering animal tails, a horseshoe, a woman holding a kerosene lamp, and a bull hidden in a horses leg.

7. Guernica was defaced

Picasso pausing in front of Guernica- by Sharon Mollerus- Wikimedia Commons

A vandal Tony Shafrazi once defaced Guernica at the New York City鈥檚 Museum of Modern Art, an act that was politically charged as Shafrazi was an anti-war activist. Thanks to xylene, an organic solvent that was used for cleaning, the words 鈥楰ILL ALL LIES鈥� in cherry- red spray paint are no longer sprayed across Guernica. The varnish coat on the painting also protected Picasso鈥檚 work.

Ironically or perhaps not, Shafrazi went on to become a respected art dealer.

8. Guernica was covered up during Colin Powell鈥檚 speech

Guernica partially visible at a UN meeting- by The Official CTBTO Photostream- Wikimedia Commons

A tapestry reproduction stood at the entrance of the United Nations鈥� Security Council between 1985 and 2009. This was the venue for Colin Powell鈥檚 2003 speech which was televised, and his speech included America鈥檚 imminent declaration of war on Iraq.

As already established Guernica was anti-war. The painting was conspicuously covered up with a blue curtain. It could be construed to be the pronounced inappropriateness of such a message at this event- it would conflict with Powell鈥檚 message.

Obscuring Guernica during this speech was also speculated to be protection for viewers from the violence of the painting as the speech as televised

9. Guernica features two other Picasso works

鈥楳inotaur鈥� and the 鈥楬arlequin鈥� are Picasso鈥檚 paintings which he did in 1936 and 1901 respectively. 聽Minotaur emerges from a cave carrying a dead horse while Harlequin of 1901 features the subject as a bold checkerboard surface, flat as the frieze of red and yellow flowers above his head.

The two paintings are part of Guernica. Minotaur symbolizes irrational power while Harlequin which traditionally symbolizes duality brings about a depth of the power of life and death.

These two signature paintings within the painting Guernica as they also carry the theme.

10. Guernica was used by Nazi Germany

Guernica is 鈥渁 hodgepodge of body parts that any four- year- old could have painted.鈥� This was the official German guidebook for the 麻豆APP International Exposition鈥檚 review of Guernica. It basically told people not to bother visiting the painting!

In a strange twist of events, the German military totally misconstrued Guernica and used this same painting in a 1990 recruitment advertisement whose slogan was 鈥� hostile images of the enemy are the fathers of war.鈥� Picasso must have had the last laugh, just not a happy one.

With the international acclaim that Guernica from Picasso garnered, the artist can be said to have made sure that the world did not quickly forget the devastation and atrocity that was the bombing of Guernica. All this he did while away from his home country, Spain. Picasso worked on Guernica from 麻豆APP.

Picasso did not allow the painting to be sent to Spain while Franco still ruled; he wanted to have it at its rightful place in Spain only when he was certain that democratic liberties had been restored in Spain. This happened in 1981, although Picasso didn鈥檛 live to see it. Before this, Guernica was loaned long term to New York鈥檚 Museum of Modern Art