GUERNICA
Painted in 1937 on oil on canvas, Guernica exhibits a nightmare vision of pain, violence, and chaos. All the colours has been eliminated from the scene only white, black, and grey remained in order to highlight the desperate mood which might be occurring indoor or outdoor. The jagged, fragmented forms and distorted faces to great effect are used to creating a terrified atmosphere. Every figure are painted with dramatic movements and painful expressions by the act of falling, screaming, and collapsing. With an eleven feet high and twenty-five feet long, it is so massive that Picasso had to use a ladder to paint the upper sections. It is now being exhibited at Museo Reina Sofia in Spain. (Stockstad, 1995)
In terms of the background of the painting, Picasso was commissioned by the Republican government to create a mural for the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris International Exhibition in early 1937. He had not decided about the theme of the painting at first, but in April 1937 during the Spanish civil war, the town of Guernica in the Republican-held Basque region of Spain was destroyed by German troops under the order of General Franco. After the brutal event, Picasso came up with an idea to paint a picture that expresses the brutality of the event to the world’s attention. Guernica is an intense condemnation of the massacre of the lives of innocent people. It is also a despaired response to the tragedy that happened and the suffering of war. In the painting, Picasso made use of stylistic methods and notable features such as the Cubist multiplicity of forms, Surrealist distortions of form and size, and simultaneous perspective. He also uses the language of children’s drawing, as seen from the simplified forms and signs. Two-dimensional illustrations are joined with frontal and profile views, bands of colour-tone overlap the outlines of the figures. When this painting was first exhibited, it causes great controversy both in subject matter and style. (Hodge and Anson 1998, 894)
In terms of the background of the painting, Picasso was commissioned by the Republican government to create a mural for the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris International Exhibition in early 1937. He had not decided about the theme of the painting at first, but in April 1937 during the Spanish civil war, the town of Guernica in the Republican-held Basque region of Spain was destroyed by German troops under the order of General Franco. After the brutal event, Picasso came up with an idea to paint a picture that expresses the brutality of the event to the world’s attention. Guernica is an intense condemnation of the massacre of the lives of innocent people. It is also a despaired response to the tragedy that happened and the suffering of war. In the painting, Picasso made use of stylistic methods and notable features such as the Cubist multiplicity of forms, Surrealist distortions of form and size, and simultaneous perspective. He also uses the language of children’s drawing, as seen from the simplified forms and signs. Two-dimensional illustrations are joined with frontal and profile views, bands of colour-tone overlap the outlines of the figures. When this painting was first exhibited, it causes great controversy both in subject matter and style. (Hodge and Anson 1998, 894)
The painting can be divided into 8 parts, which each part symbolizes things differently. The first part is the electric light: The light bulb illuminates a room of nighttime terror. Its glow has a jagged edge suggesting a burst of light, a reference to the bomb. Also, light bulb in Spanish is called “bombilla”. The light also resembles a massive eye that observes everything symbolizing the all-seeing eye of the god.
The second part is the mother and child: The woman’s face was painted in disjointed style, which expresses an impression of deep anguish. Her head is thrown back in scream of despair and her tongue is painted in a spiky manner depicting the sharpness of her pain. The way she carries her lifeless child relates to Michelangelo’s Pieta. She was originally drawn on the ladder representing bringing Jesus down the cross. (Kindersley, 2011)
The third part is the burning figure: the flame-engulfed Figure is kneeling with arm outstretched screaming at the sky. Flames can be seen shifted through the windows implying that the rest of the town is also under attack. The pose and gesture of this falling woman also suggest the Christ’s crucifixion.
The fourth part is the horse: When being asked for the symbol of the horse, Picasso stated that the shrieking horse represents the innocent people. The horse’s neck and the distorted face form a dramatic image of panic. There is a wound cut open like a slash in the canvas on the side of the horse making it seems to be screaming in pain. The sharp spiky tongue technique is also employed in this figure displaying the sharpness of pain. Picasso concealed some motifs of death in Guernica that appear to work on a subliminal level. The nose and the upper teeth of the horse form a skull figure, a stark symbol of death, a combination that aims to increase the intensity of the horse’s pain. The second one is seen on the bent front leg of the horse forming the skull-like head of the second bull. (Kindersley, 2011)
The fallen soldier is the fifth part, this one was considered to be the hardest part to interpret. A soldier lying on the ground, head and arm have been severed from his body. His stretched hand bears a mark that suggests the stigmata of Christ. On the dissected hand, he holds a broken sword and there is a flower appears to be growing there, signifying the glimmer of hope. (Kindersley, 2011)
The sixth part is the bull: the bull is regarded as an important symbol in Spain usually symbolises strength and the artist used the bull and Minotaur may times in the work. In Guernica, the bull represents brutality. However, this bull does not appear particularly aggressive. Maybe Picasso wanted the image to remain intentionally obscure. The bull was depicted with a peculiar human expression looking straight toward the viewer. The tongue was displayed in a spiky manner which similar to the woman and the horse. It still remains unclear whether the bull is twitching its tail or the tail is actually covered with fire. (Kindersley, 2011)
The seventh part is the floating woman: A female figure floats in through the open door, lighted candle or lamp in her hand. This woman, whose style is reminiscent of Picasso’s surrealist work, can be bringing enlightenment to the scene. Yet her candle flame is next to the electric lightbulb which is a symbol of war, drawing attention to the significance of these connected figures symbols. She is also resembles liberty by floating down and rescued the innocent people represented by the horse (Kindersley, 2011)
The last part is what seems to be a running woman fleeing from something: Like other figures, she has a mark of wound on her body suggesting mutilation. She appears to be either escaping from the bomb or rising up to the terror in the center of the picture where people and beasts have stumbled down upon each other. (DK Publishing, 2011)
This painting is one of Picasso’s masterpieces and is considered by many to be the greatest painting of the 20th century. There are wars still happening worldwide and Guernica is a humbling reminder of man’s destructiveness and atrocity. (Buchholz and Zimmerman 1999, 68)
This painting is one of Picasso’s masterpieces and is considered by many to be the greatest painting of the 20th century. There are wars still happening worldwide and Guernica is a humbling reminder of man’s destructiveness and atrocity. (Buchholz and Zimmerman 1999, 68)