Guernica: An Ideal Depiction of Human Suffering
Picasso's Masterpiece Visualizes the Tragedies of War and Violence
Picasso began creating Guernica fifteen days after the initial bombing of Guernica, Spain during the Spanish Civil War. His masterpiece was a direct response to the Nazi attack in 1937, and the immediacy of the work suggests a strong emotional fusion between the artist and the thematic elements of the painting.
Symbolism Prominent in Guernica
The most immediate thing one sees when looking at the piece is its immensity. Guernica is a mural-size work, done entirely in black and white. This color scheme (or lack thereof) suggests the life and death struggle the painting encompasses.
Viewing the piece as a whole, one witnesses a room with several different things simultaneously taking place. The most visual is a crying woman with her dead child in her arms being watched over by a bull. Another straightforward visual is the horse in the center of the painting, in seeming agony. When Picasso was asked what the symbolism is behind the images of the bull and the horse he responded, "this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse", clearly not wanting to give meaning to those who should look at the piece and form their own ideas.
Several other prominent images are contained within the painting. Some of the more famous ones include:
- a skull shape formed in the nose area of the horse
- a dead soldier under the horse
- floating figure
- the eye shape that appears over the horse's head
- dismembered body parts and weapons
Taken as a whole, these images represent universal suffering on all life forms (human and animal) as a result of violent acts.
Guernica as Anti-War Art
Most would argue that Guernica is less anti-war and more a representation of the suffering and tragedy that results from wars and acts of mass violence. Despite what one's personal interpretation of the paining may be, it has become the most popular and widely recognized visual representation of the anti-war sentiment.
Picasso painted Guernica in response to the bombing of its namesake city, being inspired by the "stark black and white photographs" that filled the front of his newspaper. Though the painting was met with some criticism, mainly for its use of fragmented images instead of using a more realistic style, it was always viewed, according to noted art historian Herbert Read as, "a cry of outrage and horror" against both the bombing of Guernica as well as all past and future wars and acts of violence.
Interestingly, in 2003, while the painting was on display in the United Nations building in Manhattan, NY, it was draped in blue sheets to cover it during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to UN officials as to why the US should go to war with Iraq. Though UN spokespeople claimed the concealing of the piece was due to the fact that the blue backdrop provided a more esthetically pleasing backdrop while filming, many anti-war supporters believed the gesture was one made with the direct intention to cover up the unpleasing images that war creates. In protest, a group opposing the war stood outside the UN building holding reproductions of the painting.
Picasso's masterpiece still remains one of his most widely recognized works, and for many people Guernica still remains the most representative symbol of anti-war artwork ever created.
Picasso's Famous Interpretation of War
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