Guernica By: Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

• Born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain

• Invented Cubanism • Became one of the most

influential and greatest artists in the 20th century

• He was 91 when he died in 1973 in France

Background of Guernica

• The painting is based on the bombing of the city of Guernica in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

• 1,685 people died• Picasso painted Guernica as a reaction to the

bomb

Guernica

• Completed mid-June 1937• 11.5 ft. tall and 25.6 ft. wide, a mural-size

canvas painted in oil.• It is an example of Cubism and Surrealism.

The light bulb would symbolize the bomb.

Interpretation

Flower in the hand of a dead man.

Colors: Picasso only used black, grey, and white to portray the sorrowful atmosphere and convey suffering and disorder.

The newspaper is how Picasso found out about the bombing.

Interpretation Cont.

• Guernica shows the cataclysms of war as well as the anguish and destruction it inflicts upon people, especially innocent civilians.

• With Guernica, Picasso wanted to establish his identity and his strength as an artist when confronted with political authority and intolerable violence.

Locations of Guernica

• Guernica was initially exhibited in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition

• Given to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)• Between 1939 and 1952, the painting traveled

extensively in the United States; between 1953 and 1956 it was shown in Brazil

• In 1992 it was given up to the Spanish and put in the Museo Reina Sofia

Lasting Impact

• This painting has attained an enormous reputation over the years, and has become an everlasting reminder of the devastation of war, in addition to becoming an anti-war icon.