Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. Picasso is credited, along with Georges Braque, with the creation of Cubism.
“Picasso believed Art to the son of Sadness and Suffering… that sadness lent itself to meditation and that suffering was fundamental to life… If we demand sincerity of an artist, we must remember that sincerity is not to be found outside the realm of grief.”
His Painting:
Picasso remains renowned for endlessly reinventing himself, switching between styles so radically different that his life's work seems to be the product of five or six great artists rather than just one.
Of his penchant for style diversity, Picasso insisted that his varied work was not indicative of radical shifts throughout his career, but, rather, of his dedication to objectively evaluating for each piece the structure and procedure most appropriate to accomplish his ideal impact.
“Whenever I wanted to say something, I said it the way I believed I should,' he explained. 'Different themes inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply either evolution or progress; it is a matter of following the idea one wants to express and the way in which one wants to express it.'
Cubism:
Cubism was an artistic style pioneered by Picasso and his friend and fellow painter Georges Braque. In Cubist paintings, objects are broken apart and reassembled in an abstracted form, highlighting their composite geometric shapes and depicting them from multiple, simultaneous viewpoints in order to create physics-defying, collage-like effects. At once destructive and creative, Cubism shocked, appalled, and fascinated the art world.
Pablo Picasso – Guernica
Guernica by Pablo Picasso, Dimensions: 3.49 m x 7.77 m, Created: 26 April 1937–June 1937
Locations: Paris (1937–1937), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Periods: Cubism, Surrealism
Subject: War, Spanish Civil War, Suffering
Guernica is an symbol of modern art, the Mona Lisa, for our time. As Leonardo da Vinci evoked a Renaissance ideal of serenity and self-control, Guernica should be Picasso's comment on what art can contribute towards the self-assertion that liberates every human being and protects the individual against overwhelming forces such as political crime, war, and death.
Picasso, sympathetic to the Republican government of his homeland, was horrified by the reports of devastation and death. Guernica is his visual response, his memorial to the brutal massacre.
Picasso's style, Cubism, that he engages to represent this theme is exaggerated, dramatic, and highly emotional. Guernica conveys destruction, fragmentation, and helplessness, feelings that we associate with violence and cruelty. No matter what part of the globe you are from, Guernica registers the horrors of war.
Guernica is presumably the most acclaimed work of Picasso, and it is surely his most impressive political articulation, painted as a quick response to the Nazi's overwhelming easygoing bombarding practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
Guernica shows the calamity of war and the enduring it forces upon people, particularly honest non-warriors. This work has gotten a great status, turning into an everlasting token of the cataclysms of war, an image against war, and a manifestation of harmony. On finishing Guernica was shown all throughout the planet in a concise visit, getting celebrated and generally acclaimed. This visit pointed out the world's the Spanish Civil War.
This work is seen as an amalgamation of pastoral and epic styles. The discarding of color intensifies the drama, producing a reportage quality as in an exceedingly photographic record. Guernica is blue, black, and white, 3.5 meters (11 ft) tall and seven.8 meters (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil. This painting is seen within the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Interpretations of Guernica vary widely and contradict each other. This extends, for instance, to the mural's two dominant elements: the bull and therefore the horse.
Art historian Patricia Failing said, 'The bull and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture. Picasso himself certainly used these characters to play many different roles over time. This has made the task of interpreting the specific meaning of the bull and the horse very tough. Their relationship is a kind of ballet that was conceived in a variety of ways throughout Picasso's career.”
Some critics warn against trusting the political message in Guernica. For instance, the rampaging bull, a major motif of destruction here, has previously figured, whether as a bull or Minotaur, as Picasso's ego. However, in this instance, the bull probably represents the onslaught of Fascism. Picasso said it meant brutality and darkness, presumably reminiscent of his prophetic. He also stated that the horse represented the people of Guernica.
Historical Context of the Masterpiece
Guernica could be a town within the province of Biscay in the Basque Country. During the Spanish warfare, it absolutely was thought to be the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and also the epicenter of Basque culture, adding to its significance as a target.
The Republican forces were made from assorted factions (Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, to call a few) with wildly differing approaches to government and eventual aims, but a typical opposition to the Nationalists. The Nationalists, led by the General potentate, were also factionalized but to a lesser extent. They sought a return to the golden days of Spain and supported the law, order, and traditional Catholic family values.
At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this point led by Hitler, had lent material support to the Nationalists and was using the war as a chance to check out new weapons and tactics. Later, intense aerial bombardment became an important preliminary step within the Blitzkrieg tactic.
Analysis:
The colors:
The usage of black, grey, and white symbolizes life, in between and death respectively. White is life, black is death, and the rest, which is the present, is grey. All the figures are white, which means that there is life in them, and are enveloped in darkness, denoted by black, which shows that they are surrounded by death. To interpret this, the living is surviving in an environment full of death and sorrow during the war, making Picasso’s emotional message of anti-war sentiment strong.
Made by Pablo Picasso, Guernica is a black and white art. Picasso depicted war and how mankind was affected by it in this painting. The colors are illustrative of the sadness and mournful atmosphere of war. Liked by many people, this painting shows the remorse of an artist who hated war to an extent that he restrained himself from putting colors in his masterpiece.
Picasso wanted a reflective surface to paint on. The ground layer was important as it was to form part of the composition. He used normal household paint with a minimum amount of gloss, so the white parts of the painting are luminous whereas the blacks are matte black.
The balance in the artwork:
Despite the chaos, there is, in fact, a clear visual order. Picasso balances the composition by organizing the figures in to three vertical groups moving left to right, while the central figures are stabilized within a large triangle of light.
The composition:
The Consequences of War (Image 1) by Peter Paul Rubens. Peter Paul Rubens was an artist loved. And Rubens painting an allegory showing the effects of war from 1638 is the work the most inspired Picasso’s Guernica. If we flip Ruben’s Painting, there is the similarities in composition.
The Newsprint Pattern:
The pattern, when combined with the monochromatic palette, gives off the impression of a newspaper page (pictures and text).
Picasso was given a commission to produce a large-scale mural for the Spanish republic’s Pavilion at 1937 World’s Fair in Paris where Picasso was living. Picasso was famously apolitical and told the Republicans, “I don’t do politics.”. But after months of staring as a blank canvas he was still struggling to come up with ideas.
History intervened and Picasso found his subject. Like the rest of the world, he opened his newspaper on April 27th to find the devastating images of bombing of Guernica and learnt about the bombing of Guernica through a newspaper, as did the rest of the world.
Picasso was horrified and frantically started work on new sketches (image2) for the commission. He would complete the enormous painting in only three weeks.
The Light Bulb:
The light bulb symbolizes man-made eternal sun. It illuminates the rest of the figures, bringing the torture and the victims of war to light, exposing them to the viewers’ eyes. This can show that the war is an act of brutal self-destruction, being caused by Man himself, and bringing misery unto himself. The issues of war are regarding the difference in Man bring more harm than benefit to mankind.
Picasso did not illustrate the bombing in a realistic manner, and there are not any bombs depicted in the piece. Instead, Picasso uses a light bulb surrounded by a glowing halo of luminous spikes. This symbolizes the flames that tore apart the sky during the bombing.
The electric bulb casting a harsh light from above, in sharp contrast to the hand-held oil lamp. Picasso placed those two elements right next to each other for a reason:
In a nutshell, Picasso is showing the harsh reality of progress—for all the good that it brings (electricity, automobiles. . . planes) it also brings death and destruction.
The Horse and The Bull:
The horse and the bull are mythological figures; they represent the Loyalists and Nationalists fighting against each other in the Spanish Civil War. Since both figures are in a state of extreme pain and suffering, both are not benefitting from the pointless war. The war is a fatuous act of unnecessary violence, the horror and injustice caused do not aid any political party in any way. It only adds on to the physical and mental torture to the countrymen, and political members alike.
At the left side, a wide-eyed bull with a dark body and white head is present. The horse and bull are images Picasso used his entire career. Part of the life and death ritual of Spanish bullfights. The bull is the only figure that is looking at us the viewer. Picasso himself thought of the bull as representing brutality and darkness. Its gaze is cold and detached, it has come to be seen as representing fascism or Franco himself.
Its tale smolders like the smoking(image3) remains of Guernica, as if something is getting fired.
The Horse:
Just under the light bulb the viewer’s attention is drawn to a horse. The animal has been disemboweled by an arrow and is howling in pain. This is emblematic of the suffering inflicted on the Spanish people by the dictators and German bombers. Picasso additionally includes a subliminal skull, formed by the nose and teeth of the horse.
While the bull may indeed symbolize war (or perhaps bullfighting, referencing both Spain and the human desire for dominance in general) I believe the suffering horse is a metaphor for the undeserved death that war often brings to the innocent. The horse is expressing the emotion in the way of screaming with the tongue made with a knife.
The Bull:
The human-eyed bull evokes the fight between man and beast. Without a doubt, we can see the incarnation of Spanish Nationalist and Totalitarian regimes in this animal. The bull is making a vacant look.
The Dove:
The second was a small bird between the bull and the horse. It is not a very clear symbol as it appears to be just a flash of white. Though in the Catholic Church the Holy Spirit is often represented as a white dove. This leads many to believe that the bird may be a symbol for the Holy Spirit beginning to break past the darkness of the events around it to once again usher in peace for the near future. Also, the dove looks like a pigeon, so it might be representing death of peace.
White Poppy:
The first was the flower in the dead soldier’s hand. It was an odd choice to place it there, as soldiers are not known for carrying bouquets to battle and considering the broken sword in the soldiers’ other hand. This simple little flower sends a clear message of peace to come. Though it is not discernable, the flower in the soldier’s hand resembles a white poppy flower. Ever since the end of World War I, poppies have traditionally symbolized peace and the end and remembrance of war.
This symbol of the flower shows a hint of optimistic hope amongst all the suffering and pain. This hope, however small, lies in the hands of Man, and it is his choice whether to let the hope grow, or to crush and destroy it. Misery is brought unto himself, but hope can also be reignited through the process of peace and harmony. Picasso is trying to convey the message of cooperation with one another and learning to accept each other’s flaws and differences in a positive way. The right lies in our hands.
Woman 1 holding her dead child:
The death of the child in its mother’s arms symbolizes the suffering of the innocent. And everywhere else in this painting we simply see the atrocities of war. Limbs are huge, swollen, and wounded. Mouths gape in soundless screams, eyes are wide in terror, brows are furrowed in anguish. Her face is towards the sky, screaming in anguish, with her eyes that are the shape of teardrops.
Woman 1 is look-alike to Image 4 from The Consequences of War (image 1). She is the representation of pietà (image 5), a picture or sculpture, of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus Christ on her lap or in her arms.
Woman 2 escaping:
The tip of the soldier's sword meets a woman's feet as she attempts to flee the devastation. But her other leg appears rooted to the spot, locked in the corner of the canvas even as she stretches to move it.
Woman 3 screaming:
Another victim appears behind this slouching figure. Falling helplessly as flames lick around her, she too is caught in her hopeless scene. A woman facing the heavens with outstretched arms (image 6) is from the part of The Consequences of War (image 1) by Peter Paul Rubens and is similar to this Woman 3.
Goya, an artist Picasso admired is another inspiration.
The third of May, 1808, also depicts the nighttime of the massacre. The pose of the central figure with a frightened face is reminiscent of the screaming woman 3.
And inevitably both figures, they have crucifixions pose like Jesus. The major religion in Spain has been Catholic Christianity since 1492. It may mean the iconographical connections between Guernica and the Christian tradition.
Also, in both paintings, ‘Third of May’ and ‘Guernica’, I could find the sign of stigmata on their hands.
The woman holding a lamp:
The woman holding a kerosene lamp is the Soviet Russia. Near the woman holding the lamp, the five prolonged shape next to the crescent shape window. This symbolizes the Communist star, sickle, and hammer. It was displayed on the Soviet Union’s flag which may depict that the woman holding the lamp in Russia as they are an ally of the residents of Guernica.
Lamp is directly opposite the lightbulb, clashing with it- a symbol of hope amidst destruction.
A flying fury of war holding out a torch:
We can also compare the flying fury to Proudhon’s allegory of Justice and divine vengeance pursuing. As Picasso’s Guernica is having a purpose of looking for the justice, the name of this artwork. And this torch is also used in Guernica
Every tongue is a knife:
Out of three images that displayed their tongues, the crying mother, the horse, and the bull, none of them had a rounded tongue. Their tongues are shown to bear a dagger-like point, like a knife. This embodies the normal figures sharpened by the horrors of Franco’s atrocious act.
Women are the main characters in Guernica:
A closer look at Guernica shows that the main characters in the painting are women. A woman screaming with a dead child in her arms is one of the most powerful images in the painting. Women represent life and pain, and this could be why Picasso used women figures to convey the agony in Guernica. The other women in the painting include one that can be seen trying to escape, another with her arms in the air and another holding an oil lamp, signifying hope.
The Broken Statue of Soldier:
A single soldier lies broken and dismembered at the base of the painting, trampled by the death throes of the horse above him. His arm clutches a broken sword, separated from his body. In Guernica we find no solace in humanity—all is death and destruction.
The stigma on his palm; a sign associated with martyrdom and sacrifice.
Splashes and Mistakes:
The speed at which he paints leave splashes. And mistakes adding to the urgency of the painting.