Artist: Pablo Picasso
Year: 1937
Type: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 137.4 in × 305.5 in
Location: Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
On April 27th, 1937, unprecedented atrocities are perpetrated against the civilian population of a little Basque village in northern Spain. Chosen for bombing practice by Hitler's burgeoning war machine, the hamlet is pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. Townspeople are cut down as they run from the crumbling buildings. Guernica burns for three days. Sixteen hundred civilians are killed or wounded.
By May 1st, news of the massacre at Guernica reaches Paris, where more than a million protesters flood the streets to voice their outrage in the largest May Day demonstration the city has ever seen. Eyewitness reports fill the front pages of Paris papers. Picasso is stunned by the stark black and white photographs. Appalled and enraged, Picasso rushes through the crowded streets to his studio, where he quickly sketches the first images for the mural he will call Guernica. His search for inspiration is over.
It's sad to admit that I first heard about this painting on a little television show called Queer as Folk. One of the characters was saying that art changes people, that it gets them to do something they rarely do: THINK. I quickly looked up the painting in question, and it blew me away. Not only by its size, but by the subject matter. The first thing you notice is the tangle of limbs and bodies scattered throughout the piece. Next is the lack of color. This painting is done entirely in black and white, yet it invokes so much emotion and calls attention to the crime it portrays.
This is one of those rare paintings that is so powerful and meaningful, yet its something most people have never heard of before. And its almost never mentioned in art history classes.
I think that people like art that is safe. They want flowers and trees and people walking in the park. They don't want death and destruction and truth. They don't want to know what human nature is capable of. This apocalyptic vision of the destruction of a tiny town in Spain will always serve as most powerful anti-war statement ever made.
It's just like people refusing to believe that WWII ever happened. You can't fake those kind of photographs that were taken then. The technology wasn't there. It's an intense painting though. I can see why you like it. The vibrancy of it jumps out at you.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is an amazing painting--very emotional! It is awesome how art can produce such a variety of thoughts and feelings. Thank you for sharing this. I feel very much educated and enlightened all at the same time. It is strange how beauty and truth can be found within death and tragedy. It is all connected.
ReplyDeleteWell put! This piece of art is thought provoking, sad, and humbling at the same time. Thanks for your enlightened comments and information on this awesome artwork. I deeply enjoyed your take on the piece and its significance in the art world. You were quite clever to point out that most people expect nothing but beauty from art. There are many artists out there not afraid to transcend this ignorance with truth through their expressive art. Thank goodness for these brave artists. It is through them the world has a chance to see truth through art.
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