Guernica (painting)

Guernica is one of the most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso, depicting the consequences of the bombing of Guernica. Picasso, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to paint a picture to decorate the Spanish Pavilion during the Paris International Exposition (the 1937 World's Fair in Paris), created this massivehttp://www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/archives/1997/opparch97-128.html Cubist work.

Related Topics:
Pablo Picasso - Bombing of Guernica - Spanish Republican - Paris International Exposition - 1937 - World's Fair - Paris - Cubist

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The painting depicts suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by the violence and chaos of the carpet-bombing, as well as the outline of a skull formed by various objects. This large canvas embodies for many the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war, and the cruelty of bombing civilians. The choice to paint in black and white without color contrasts the screaming intensity of the scene depicted.

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Even before the bombing and Picasso's commemoration of it in a painting, the city of Guernica had long been associated with the traditional freedoms of the Basque people. The Biscayne assembly traditionally met under an oak tree in Guernica, the Gernikako Arbola.

Related Topics:
Guernica - Basque people - Biscay - Oak - Gernikako Arbola

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The painting makes use of imagery that had permeated Picasso's work since the early 1930s: "the ritual of the corrida, the myth of the minotaur, images of Christian martyrdom and suffering women." It was executed with great speed: Guernica, a city long identified with Basque nationalism, was attacked April 26, 1937 and the Spanish Pavilion opened in July of the same year. Picasso was self-exiled to Paris at the time he executed the painting; he had never been to the city of Guernica, nor in fact would he ever go there. Dora Maar, Picasso's lover at the time, made an extensive photographic record of the execution of the piece.

Related Topics:
1930s - Corrida - Minotaur - Christian - Martyr - April 26 - 1937 - Dora Maar

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After the fair, the painting went on tour, first to the Scandinavian capitals, then to London, where it arrived on September 30, 1938, the same day the Munich Agreement was signed by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It then returned briefly to France; after the victory of Francisco Franco in Spain, the painting was sent to the United States to raise funds and support for Spanish refugees. At Picasso's request the safekeeping of the piece was entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. It formed the centerpiece of a Picasso retrospective at MOMA which opened six weeks after the Nazi invasion of Poland. , http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/gtimeline.html

Related Topics:
Scandinavia - London - September 30 - Munich Agreement - United Kingdom - France - Italy - Germany - Francisco Franco - Spain - United States - Museum of Modern Art - New York City - Nazi invasion of Poland

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Between 1939 and 1952, the painting travelled extensively in the United States; between 1953 and 1956 it was shown in Brazil, at the first-ever Picasso retrospective in Milan, Italy, and then in numerous other major European cities, before returning to MOMA for a retrospective celebrating Picasso 's 75th birthday. It then went on to Chicago and Philadelphia. By this time, concern for the state of the painting resulted in a decision to keep it in one place: a room on MOMA's third floor, where it was accompanied by several of Picasso's preliminary studies and some of Dora Maar's photos. The studies and photos were often loaned for other exhibitions, but until 1981, Guernica itself remained at MOMA. http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/gtimeline.html

Related Topics:
Brazil - Milan - Italy - Chicago - Philadelphia - 1981

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During the Vietnam War, the room containing the painting became the site of occasional anti-war vigils. These were usually peaceful and uneventful, but in 1974, Tony Shafrazi — ostensibly protesting Richard Nixon's pardon of William Calley for the latter's actions during the My Lai massacre — defaced the painting with red spray paint, painting the words "KILL LIES ALL"; the paint was relatively easily removed from the varnished surface.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - 1974 - Tony Shafrazi - Richard Nixon - William Calley - My Lai massacre

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As early as 1968, Franco had expressed an interest in having Guernica return to Spain. http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/gtimeline.html However, Picasso refused to allow this until the Spanish people again enjoyed a republic. He later added other conditions, such as the restoration of "public liberties and democratic institutions". Picasso died in 1973. Franco, ten years Picasso's junior, died two years later, in 1975. After Franco's death, Spain was transformed into a democratic constitutional monarchy, ratified by a new constitution in 1978. However, MOMA were reluctant to give up one of their greatest treasures and argued that a constitutional monarchy did not represent the republic that had been stipulated in Picasso's will as a condition for the painting's return. Under great pressure from a number of observers, MOMA finally ceded the painting to Spain in 1981.

Related Topics:
1968 - Republic - 1973 - 1975 - Democratic - Constitutional monarchy - A new constitution - 1978 - 1981

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The Spanish historian Javier Tusell was one of the negotiators.

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During the 1970s, it was a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Franco regime and of Basque nationalism.

Related Topics:
1970s - Basque nationalism

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The Basque left has repeatedly used imagery from the picture.

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It is now in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, along with about two dozen preparatory works. The exact location was controversial in Spain, since Picasso's will stated that the painting should be displayed at the Prado Museum. However, as in the late 20th century the Prado moved all of its collections of art after the early 19th century to other nearby buildings in the city for reasons of space, the Reina Sofía, which houses the capital's national collection of 20th century art, seems the appropriate place for it. A special gallery was built at the Reina Sofía to display Picasso's masterpiece to best advantage.

Related Topics:
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía - Madrid - Prado Museum - 19th century - 20th century

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When first displayed in Spain, the painting was placed at El Casón del Buen Retiro, an annex to the Prado that housed early 19th century paintings but had a large enough wall.

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It was kept behind bullet-proof glass and guarded with machine guns. However, since that time there has never been any attempted vandalism or other security threat to the painting. In its present gallery, the painting has roughly the same protection as any other work at the Reina Sofía. http://www.picassoswar.com/interview.html

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Basque nationalists have advocated that the picture should be brought to the Basque country, especially after the building of the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum. Officials at the Reina Sofía claim that the huge canvas is now thought to be too fragile to move. Even the staff of the Guggenheim do not see a permanent transfer of the painting as possible, although the Basque government continues to support the possibility of a temporary exhibition in Bilbao. http://www.picassoswar.com/interview.html

Related Topics:
Guggenheim Bilbao Museum - Bilbao

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