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Title, English: Guernica.
original name: Guernica.
Year of ending: 1937.
Dimensions: 349.3 × 776.6 cm.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Location: Madrid, Reina Sofia Arts Center
“Guernica” - a canvas made in black and white colors in the style of cubism, was painted in 1937, after the raid and bombing of the town of the same name with a population of 5 thousand inhabitants by German aircraft. This bombing claimed about 2 thousand civilian lives, and fascism, performing only a “psychological move,” showed the world its true face.
The government of the Spanish Republic asked Pablo Picasso to paint a painting for the World Exhibition in Paris that would tell about this tragedy.
After the World Exhibition, Guernica was exhibited in many countries, and in 1981 it was placed in the Prado Museum. In 1992, it settled in the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, along with other world masterpieces of the last century, where it remains to this day.
On April 26, 1937, the town of Henrika was practically wiped off the face of the earth by the fascist Condor squadron. 22 tons of bombs were dropped from aircraft, resulting in 70% of buildings being completely or partially destroyed.
This bloody event was made public by the English journalist John Steer, who visited Guernica, talked with the local population, and found fragments of bombs with fascist marks.
After the German bombing of a small Basque town, Picasso painted his picture in record time - in less than 1 month, and its main images - a mother with a dead child in her arms, a torn horse, a defeated rider, a bull, a woman with a lamp - were determined in the first days of work , when the master stands at the canvas for more than 12 hours. It seems that Picasso had been planning something similar for a long time, and that is why he painted the picture so quickly.
The creation of an impressively sized canvas (3.5 × 7.8 m) is nothing more than Picasso’s reaction to the death of innocent people. At this time, the theme and image of the bull predominates in the artist’s work, which is interpreted as a kind of destructive force, death, chaos, war (“Minotauromachy”). It can be assumed that the record-breaking time for painting the picture lies precisely in this - the apogee of the development of the theme and image of the bull becomes “Guernica” - exposing the entire horror of the fascist campaign.
In mid-1937, the painting was exhibited in Paris, at the World Exhibition, but it did not make the right impression either on ordinary visitors or even on some specialists. Le Corbusier noted that Guernica saw mainly only the backs of its visitors. But, nevertheless, there were many who liked the picture and who saw in it all the horror of the war.
In 1939, the canvas was brought to New York. Picasso put forward the condition that the painting would be returned to its homeland only if democracy came to power. In 1967, the Spanish government tried to return the work (due to some relaxation of the political regime), but the artist refused.
This picture evokes a lot of emotions. In 2003, when a copy of the painting was at the UN, it was covered with cloth. Coincidentally or not, it was then that the invasion of Iraq was discussed.
“Guernica” is a large-scale canvas, measuring 3.5 × 7.8 m, made in oil in black and white. It presents scenes of brutality, violence, death, helplessness and suffering. Evil in the picture is not personified. The viewer does not see the cause of this horror, only somewhere in the distance there are flames, but there are no bombs or shelling.
The black and white palette focuses on the lifelessness and horror of war, like eternal darkness, bursting with distant reflections of conflagrations. On the other hand, this manner is close to newspaper photography of those times - documentary evidence of fascist crimes. The picture shows the horror and suffering of people, animals, buildings that succumbed to transformation under the influence of chaos and violence.
- “Guernica” is a single canvas, all scenes of which are located within the same room. On the left side we can see a woman holding a dead child in her arms. She froze in a silent cry of horror and madness. Above her is a bull - the personification of indifference...
- There is a horse in the central plan. She falls in her death throes, as if she had just been killed by a spear. Her upper teeth and nose are shaped like a human skull.
- A dead, dismembered warrior lies under the horse. His severed hand clutches the hilt of a broken sword. A flower grows from the hand as a symbol of rebirth and peace.
- A transparent light bulb burns above the head of a maddened horse. It has the shape of an eye, which can also be interpreted in different ways. For example, a light bulb from a torture chamber.
- To the right in front of the viewer is an antique mask floating out through the window with a lit candle in an outstretched hand. She is a witness to all the events that take place.
- Just below the floating antique figure is a bent woman, her gaze directed at the light bulb.
- In the mouth of a grieving woman, a bull and a horse, instead of a tongue, there are daggers, as the personification of a piercing scream.
- Behind the bull is a bird, most likely a dove, rushing around in panic and, as everything, cannot find a way out of the confined space.
- To the right in front of us is a figure with raised arms. She is trapped in fire, frozen in silent horror.
- The right end of the fresco is completed by a wall with an open door.
The abstract form of execution only improves perception, and the tragic, tortured images emphasize the hatred of fascism for all living things. Looking at this canvas, it seems that you can hear the sound of exploding bombs, inhuman screams, moans, crying and curses. It is a symbol of anger and pain, a warning to future generations.
G. commissioned by the government of the Spanish Republic for the Spanish pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. The theme of the painting, executed in a cubist manner and in black and white, is the bombing of Guernica, which occurred shortly before.
After the exhibition, the painting was exhibited in a number of countries (mainly in the USA). Picasso himself stated that he would like to see it in the Prado Museum, but only after the restoration of the republic in Spain. The painting was placed in the Prado in 1981, and in 1992 it was transported with other works of art of the 20th century to the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, where it remains to this day.
History of the creation of the canvas
The reason for the creation of “Guernica” by Picasso was the bombing of the city of the Basque country - Guernica. During the Spanish Civil War, on April 26, 1937, the Condor Legion, a volunteer unit of the Luftwaffe, raided Guernica. Several thousand bombs were dropped on the city in three hours; As a result, the city of six thousand was destroyed, about two thousand inhabitants were trapped under the rubble. After the raid, Guernica burned for another three days. The whole world watched these events, including Pablo Picasso. The Spanish poet and prominent public figure Rafael Alberti later recalled: “Picasso had never been to Guernica, but the news of the destruction of the city struck him like the blow of a bull’s horn.” The bombing of Guernica served as the impetus for the creation of the famous painting. The painting was painted literally in a month - the first days of work on the painting, Picasso worked for 10-12 hours and already in the first sketches one could see the main idea. It seemed that the artist had already thought through the concept of the canvas for a long time, and only now was bringing his ideas to life.
At the World Exhibition in Paris, Picasso presented his painting to a wide audience, but the audience's reaction did not quite correspond to the artist's ideas. The famous French architect Le Corbusier, who was present at the opening of the Spanish pavilion, later recalled: “Guernica saw mainly the backs of visitors.” However, it was not only ordinary visitors to the exhibition who were not prepared to perceive the picture, which in such a unique form told about the horrors of war. Not all experts accepted “Guernica”: some critics denied the painting its artistry, calling the painting a “propaganda document,” others tried to limit the content of the painting only to the framework of a specific event and saw in it only an image of the tragedy of the Basque people. And the Madrid magazine “Sábado Grafico” even wrote: “Guernica - a canvas of enormous size - is terrible. This may be the worst thing Pablo Picasso created in his life.”
Subsequently, Pablo Picasso, speaking about the fate of his brainchild, remarked: “What have I heard about my Guernica from both friends and enemies.” However, there were more friends. Dolores Ibárruri, for example, immediately praised Picasso’s painting: “Guernica is a terrible indictment of fascism and Franco. She mobilized and raised peoples, all men and women of good will, to fight. If Pablo Picasso had created nothing in his life except Guernica, he could still be considered one of the best artists of our era.” Danish cartoonist Herluf Bidstrup considered Guernica the most significant anti-war work. He wrote: “People of my generation remember well how the fascists sadistically bombed the city of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The artist showed the brutal face of war, a reflection of that terrible reality in abstract forms, and it is still in our anti-war arsenal.”
This picture perfectly conveys the tragedy of people’s heartlessness.
Description
"Guernica" is a fresco canvas painted in oil in black and white, 3.5 m high and 7.8 m long. This huge canvas was painted at incredible speed - in just a month.
"Guernica" presents scenes of death, violence, brutality, suffering and helplessness, without indicating their immediate causes. The choice of a black and white palette, on the one hand, conveys chronological proximity to newspaper photography of that time, on the other hand, reflects the lifeless nature of the war.
"Guernica" depicts suffering people, animals, and buildings transformed by violence and chaos.
- All scenes take place within the confines of a room, in the left open part of which, above a woman mourning the dead child in her arms, stands a bull with wide open eyes.
- The central shot is occupied by a horse falling in agony, as if it had just been pierced by a spear or javelin. The horse's nose and upper teeth are formed from the shape of a human skull.
- Beneath the horse is a dead, apparently dismembered soldier, whose severed hand still clutches a fragment of a sword from which a flower grows.
- A transparent light bulb in the shape of an eye burns above the head of a suffering horse (the lamp from the torture chamber).
- To the upper right of the horse, an antique mask, which seems to be a witness to the scenes taking place in front of it, seems to float into the room through the window. Her hand, also floating into the room, holds a lit lamp.
- Directly to the right, just below the floating female figure, an awestruck woman moved toward the center. Her indifferent gaze is directed at the sparkling light bulb.
- Daggers, representing a piercing cry, replace the tongues of the bull, the mourning woman, and the horse.
- Behind the bull, on the shelf, there is a bird in a panic, apparently a dove.
- On the right edge is a figure with his hands raised in horror, trapped by fire above and below.
- A dark wall with an open door completes the right end of the mural.
- On the hands of the dead soldier are visible stigmata (painful bleeding wounds that open on the body of some deeply religious people - those who “suffered like Jesus”). Picasso was not religious. Although his personality was shaped by the culture of predominantly Catholic Spain, these symbols should not be interpreted as a Christian identification of the artist. In reality, it reflects the idea that we are all often forced to suffer for no reason. Picasso uses a highly identifiable image to demonstrate how we are all similar to Christ, in whom we all suffer and ultimately die.
Interpretations of what is depicted in the picture
- A lot of controversy was caused by the head of a bull depicted in the upper left corner of the picture - this is a character who looks at everything that happens around him with absolutely indifference, his gaze is directed into nowhere. He does not sympathize with the participants in the film, cannot understand the horror of what is happening. Some art critics believe that this is the personification of fascism and all world evil. It is to the bull that the horse, located in the center, addresses its last “curses,” but the bull does not notice it, just as it does not notice everything that is happening around. Other researchers, for example N.D. Dmitrieva, suggest that the bull is a symbol of deafness, misunderstanding, and ignorance.
Notes
Links
- The Painting, Guernica - October 2004 (English)
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
See what “Guernica (picture)” is in other dictionaries:
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Guernica (Spanish Guernica, Basque Gernika) is a polysemantic term. Guernica is a city and municipality in Spain, part of the province of Vizcaya as part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Guernica (painting) painting by Pablo Picasso, painted in May 1937 by... ... Wikipedia
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Books
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Any story about Guernica"begins with a story about a German officer's visit to the studio Pablo Picasso in the occupied Paris. I won't make any exceptions.
The Gestapo did not come to arrest the artist, but for a fact-finding visit - “to visit.” Seeing postcards with a reproduction of “Guernica” on the table, to put it mildly, not the most pleasant painting for the fascist regime, the officer asked Picasso: “Did you do this?” The artist replied: “No, you did it.” Perhaps this is just a beautiful story, especially since Picasso was not arrested or sent to prison after this, but it conveys the meaning of “Guernica” very well. This is a work that captures a fact in artistic form. Even if someone destroyed all the documents, all the memories of this air raid, all the memory, the picture would remain, and everyone who saw it would ask: “What is this? What is this about?”, and would look for answers and find them.
From a tourism point of view, Guernica is very rich. Both she herself and her entire history will not give you pleasant impressions, but this kind of “pessimistic” or “gloomy” tourism also has a right to exist, and people still go to see places of grief and sorrow - for various reasons. “Guernica” began, of course, in the city of the same name, which gave the name to the canvas. In 1937, during the civil war in Spain, Guernica Republicans controlled. It is known that there was no concentration of troops, large headquarters or formations here. But there were factories here that were used by the Republicans to produce ammunition. Therefore, the raid was quite expected. But, as often happens, the targets were adjusted - the main blow of the Condor Legion fell on the local market square. Most of the destruction and casualties were due to fires caused by bombing rather than explosions. The number of victims, according to various estimates, ranges from several hundred to 2 thousand people.
The bombing of Guernica was given particular significance by The Times reporter George Steere, who described the air raid and gave rise to several controversial theories surrounding the event. For example, Steer claimed that on this day the peasants gathered in the city for market day, although trade appears to have been canceled due to hostilities. In general, the American was incredibly picky about facts and looked for evidence for every phrase he said. For example, at that time Germany's participation in the Spanish War was only a rumor, but the reporter obtained fragments of bombs with a German eagle, and also found out aircraft models. But the most cynical discovery he made that day was the intact and undamaged military factories, which supposedly should have been the target of the raid. Obviously, the Germans bombed the population of the town, and people who fled from the city were shot from onboard machine guns.
Steere's report was the most powerful bomb that exploded that day. Picasso, who learned about the air raid from the newspaper, was amazed and outraged. Therefore, he immediately agreed to create a painting for the Spanish pavilion at the World Exhibition.
He wrote Guernica for about a month, working feverishly for 10-12 hours in the first days. This was his largest work - the canvas was 7.76 meters long and 3.49 meters high. He abandoned color and filled the space with black and white images of suffering, cruelty, grief and madness - this is how he saw what was happening in his homeland.
Not everyone accepted the picture, even supporters of the republic. Many believed that Picasso was carried away by political ideas and sacrificed art for the sake of propaganda, albeit for a good cause.
After the exhibition in Paris, the painting went on tour around Europe, and when the fascists defeated the Republicans, and Franco’s dictatorship was established in Spain, “Guernica” was taken to NY, where it was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in the fall of 1939, when Germany has already invaded Poland. The funds collected for viewing the film went to a fund to help Spanish refugees.
From New York the film often went on tour around USA and Europe, gaining fame as the most famous contemporary work of art in Spain. Surprisingly, in the late 1960s, Francisco Franco expressed a desire to purchase the painting and exhibit it in Spain, which, of course, was refused by Picasso. He said that he would agree to give the painting to Franco only after he agreed to restore it in Spain republic.
Gradually, the war in Spain was forgotten, and “Guernica” became a symbol of protest against any wars. Its importance and power were confirmed in 2003 at the UN building. “Guernica” was presented there in the form of a tapestry and hung on the wall of the room through which diplomats passed to meetings of the UN Security Council. Speeches to the press also took place there. On February 5, journalists noticed that the reproduction was covered with a blanket. It turned out that Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking about the need for war in Iraq, said this against the backdrop of Guernica, which became an ominous illustration of his words. The George W. Bush administration, feeling powerless before the persuasiveness of the anti-war masterpiece, insisted that UN workers hang Guernica.
Now the canvas is in the National Museum "Reina Sofia Art Center" in Madrid. The Basques, who consider the city of Guernica their cultural center, insist that the painting go to the Basque Country, to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
In Guernica itself, those events are represented in the form of graffiti copying the work of Picasso, a monument to George Steere and the “Peace Monument” by sculptor Eduardo Chilida. Another famous work based on the events of 1937 was the girl “Guernica” by the French sculptor Rene Ichet. The statue was always the property of the sculptor and was not exhibited by him due to the depressing impression it made. However, the original plaster mold of the statue is in the Fabre Museum in Montpellier, France.
December 04, 2012
Guernica (panel)
1937; 351x782 cm
National Museum of Reina Sofia, Madrid
On the afternoon of April 26, 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, Condor Air Legion bombers destroyed the city of Guernica, the historical capital of the Basques in northern Spain.
The first terrorist bombing of a civilian population, which affected thousands of innocent people, immediately caused outrage throughout the world. The Spaniard Picasso perceived this inhumane action as a personal tragedy and created one of his most emotional works - “ Guernica».
The merciless deformations of human bodies, which so confused many in other works Picasso, turn out to be not only appropriate here - they made it possible to convincingly, materially, almost physically feel the horror of war, the nightmarish absurdity of the very idea of murder.
The bull's head in the upper left corner of the picture undoubtedly belongs to the Minotaur, who embodies evil and destruction. Without occupying a central place in the composition of the work, he still claims a dominant position: his appearance is the only one that does not express suffering, yet the crying faces are turned to him as if with a silent prayer.
Looking at the picture further, we will notice that in the center of the composition, which is built like a frieze of cubist-surreal elements, a running woman, a wounded horse and a dead warrior are depicted. In the hand of the defeated man is a broken sword, a sign of defeat, nearby are flowers that grow spontaneously on the graves of martyrs, birds - winged souls - fly into the sky.
Each character in the picture literally falls into the terrible world surrounding him on all sides. With “wild violence”, the expression of people and animals in “ Guernica“The calmly glowing lampshade contrasts strangely with the electric lamp. This light is not like the light of a flame in which a woman rushes, burning, with her arms raised to the sky.
It also does not look like tongues of fire, which we see in the lamp that the other heroine of the panel holds in her outstretched hand. The light emanating from an electric lantern is calm, uniform - it is the light of hope.
In one of his comments to Guernica Picasso noted that “the light in the picture is the world to which every living creature will strive.” It turns out that in “Guernica” the master paints not only a pessimistic picture of existence, in this work one can find both faith in the best and hope for the victory of Cosmos over Chaos...
"Guernica" is one of the most famous works Pablo Picasso, and one of the most recognizable paintings of the twentieth century. Some extol the picture above everything else, others simply do not understand it. The painting, which Picasso completed in less than a month, was commissioned by the Government of the Spanish Republic for the Paris exhibition. But this began with events that happened a month before.
In 1937, the whole world, and Europe in particular, followed the progress of the civil war in Spain. By spring, when the rebels launched an offensive against Barcelona and Madrid, a truly monstrous act was committed. With Franco's permission, on April 26, 1937, the Nazi Condor squadron carried out a night bombing of the Basque town of Guernica, which was home to about 5,000 thousand people. This raid did not provide any military advantage; the Nazis wanted to inflict a “psychological blow” to intimidate. More than 20 tons of bombs were dropped. As a result, the entire city center was completely destroyed. More than 1,600 people died that night.
These events were a shock to everyone, including Pablo Picasso. In less than a month, working 10 hours a day, the picture was presented to the public. Its dimensions were amazing: 8 meters wide and 3.5 meters high. “Guernica” is drawn entirely in black and white, which clearly personifies the manifestation of fascism and world evil in general, as well as the lifeless nature of the war and its victims.
Despite the fact that Guernica was inspired by the bombing of the city, there are no air raids, explosions, or destruction in the painting itself. Pablo Picasso is truly a man - a genius, who showed the essence of the horror of the events that took place with his inner gaze at what was happening. And these are mainly the victims of that raid. A mother with a dead child, a dismembered soldier, and a horse pierced by a spear, and even a man engulfed in flames. And only the bull does not seem to correspond to the general atmosphere. Apparently, the bull represents fascism in general. His calm and aloof look shows with what indifference to other people's lives he destroys a small town.
The painting was first exhibited in June 1937 at the World Exhibition in Paris. From 1939 to 1981 the painting was kept in New York. Then “Guernica” was transported to Spain, to the Prado Museum. And from 1992 to this day it has been kept in Madrid, in the Royal Sofia Museum.
Guernica is truly the greatest masterpiece of 20th century art. On the frozen and silent canvas, it seems that one can hear the groans and screams of the fallen victims, the whistle and din of falling bombs. For Hispanic Republicans, Guernica became a symbol of pain and revenge. Carrying it under them as a banner, they went into battle for peace and justice.
