Guernica, Picasso, 1937Before we begin, I want you to consume this painting.If you know the story, the details might already scream at you.However, if you’re unfamiliar with it, consider the content of the painting, read into the details, and build a story about it.Try to understand why Picasso painted this.Guernica, the town, Euskadi.eusThe painting is named after Guernica, the Basque town in Northern Spain, pictured above.On April 26th, 1937, about 6 weeks before the painting was unveiled at the Paris International Exposition, the population was about 7000.In addition to the local civilian population, the town housed a communications center for the antifascist Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War, and so it was bombed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy — an intentional attack on not just the military forces, but the civilians that inhabited the town, to send a message.Scroll back up and look at the painting again.When you’re done, come back here.If you didn’t know the story of this painting beforehand, now you do, and it might strike a different chord, if just slightly. |
