MODULE 15

Pablo Picasso

Guernica, 1937

oil on canvas

11' 6"x25' 6"

     Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, painted in 1937, is one of the most emotional, impactful and important Cubist images of all time. The scene takes place inside of what looks like a home. Light is cast on the various figures from the doorway on the far left of the composition as well as a light fixture mounted on the ceiling in the center of the room. Many of the figures are filled with despair and the monochromatic blue color scheme adds to the melancholy. In true Cubist fashion, the figures are composed of simple geometric shapes and flat planes of color. Curved lines are used to make people and animals, while straight angular lines and shapes are reserved for the structure of the room’s walls, windows, and door. 

In the doorway at the far left, a bull stands stiffly with an alarmed look, tail flung high in the air, legs stiff and straight. In front of it kneels a woman holding her dead baby, her head thrown back and mouth open as she cries out. In the center lies a dead man in pieces on the ground. Behind him is a wide-eyed horse neighing and perhaps thrashing its body around the room. Three figures are on the right side of this long painting. One is sticking their arm and head through a window holding a candlestick. They are shocked looking at the scene in the room. Another figure is dragging their body towards the door. They are low to the ground which gives their body a weighted feeling. The third figure is to the far right. Their arms are flung upwards and they are crying out in despair. 

Upon further research, I discovered the bull and horse are symbols of Spain. The meaning of each animal varies according to who is analyzing the painting. Some think the bull was a symbol of Fascism and the wounded horse represents the Spanish People. Picasso himself never specified what they represent. He believed the interpretation should be left up to the viewer. 

The entire scene is chaotic and jumbled with shapes. Since we read things from left to right, a long and narrow canvas is appropriate for this composition. The viewer is able to take in and slowly analyze each figure individually from left to right. The artist organized the composition linearly which makes it easier to read, which is usually difficult for a Cubist piece of art. Picasso and other Cubist artists take a subject apart and put it back together in an unexpected, jumbled way. The middle of this piece is hard to understand because of the overlapping figures and shapes. It is only after doing additional research on this painting was I able to understand that the body on the ground is likely in pieces.

  The reason Picasso wanted to illustrate this deadly, gruesome scene is the series of arial attacks on the unsuspecting Spanish city of Guernica by the Spanish government. With funding from the Germans, Hitler’s Nazis used the village as a test run of a training mission composed of over two hours of bombing the city, reducing it to rubble. This city was of no strategic military value and 1,600 innocent civilians were killed or wounded.

Picasso felt strongly against the war going on in his homeland and wanted to tell the world about this horrifying attack on civilians. Guernica is his response to the event.  He completely abandoned the commission he had been creating for the Spanish Pavilion and dispassionately working on for months and completed this mural-sized artwork in less than a month. Its grand size paired with moving imagery effects every person who stands in front of it. Because of its scale, it is as if you are surrounded by the chaos erupting in the small village.