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Guernica is one of Picasso’s most striking and easily recognizable works. |
Guernica,
one of the most famous works of the artist Pablo Picasso, was created to reflect
Picasso’s own personal and political development during a time when the world
was teetering on the brink of war.
The piece refutes the common belief that art – especially figurative art –
is merely something for entertainment and optical pleasure, detached from social
surroundings. The unquestionable fact, however, that most artists of every age
have proved is that art is one of the necessities of life and that "art for
art's sake" is an unrealistic philosophy. The truth is that the real
creative artist is often influenced by his/her sociopolitical environment which
constitutes the stimulus for his/her creative art.
Picasso's
fame reached its peak in 1936 as his name crowned the list of his distinguished
artistic contemporaries. During that same year, between January and May, he did
three important exhibitions in Spain, his birthplace.
In
July of that same year, political tensions in Spain escalated and, in doing so,
eerily presaged the civil war that would soon engulf the country. The
socio-political state of affairs alarmed Picasso and other artists, spurring
them to artistically explore political attitudes and the issues of the day.
Early
in his career, Picasso favored Socialism and supported the Spanish Republic. As
such he could not repress his abhorrence and disdain towards General Francisco
Franco, the Spanish right-wing leader of the time. Picasso even produced an
album in 1937 titled: The Dream and Fall of Franco, which contains 18
metal-engraved drawings depicting the extreme cruelty and violence of the
Spanish Civil War. Those drawings were printed and sold afterwards as postcards
in favor of the republican Spanish government.
The Beginning: The Quiet City
In January 1937, the lawful republican government requested that Picasso begin
work on a large, major artistic piece that would be a decoration for the Spanish
booth at the Paris International Exhibition. Picasso was puzzled as to what
could be drawn in order to achieve such a noble national aim. He remained
indecisive until an incident occurred that left and indelible impression upon
him. This incident became his inspiration and subject matter.
April
26, 1937 was market day in the small city of Guernica, located in the Spain’s
Basque region. On that terrible day, Hitler's war planes, supporting General
Franco and his troops that were engaged in the Spanish Civil War, bombarded the
quiet city. Most men had already left the city to fight at the front, leaving
mostly women, children, and the elderly behind. The bombardment lasted for three
and a half hours, destroying 70 percent of the city and claiming 1600 lives, one
third of the population.
The Journey of Work: From Emotion to Essence
Picasso began work immediately. In early May, he drew a preliminary linear
sketch consisting of only vague lines that embodied the main features of the
final portrait. It took a full month of tiresome work before it was finally
finished. The photographs taken of Guernica during the phases of its development
– the sketches and drawings or those that emerged, in some cases, after the
work was finished – reveal that the portrait was far beyond the impromptu work
of genius. It cost Picasso a lot of emotional suffering and aroused in him much
anguish and grief.
The Phases of Guernica
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Guernica
in its first phase |
To build the portrait phase by phase and detail by detail, Picasso used black
coal and ink pens and then brushes. Sometimes, black areas had had to be painted
and then certain parts of them erased to become white once again.
Picasso’s work really began on the 9th of May when he was thinking about his
theme with a kind of special passion. As such, he was unable to avoid
exaggeration of expression. It is this exaggeration that marks the first phase.
When he began the second phase on May 17th, Picasso eased away from exaggeration
and actually began to simplify the drama of the attack and reduce it to the
narrowest limit possible.
In
the third phase, however, certain important modifications were made. The horse,
for example, which totally collapsed, its head being smashed on the ground and
which appeared devoid of life, appears in the final work standing upright on its
front legs as a kind of protest.
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The last phase of Guernica as featured in the Paris International Exhibition
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In
the fourth phase, the work underwent even more radical modifications, which
conferred upon it the vengeful impression it engenders in gallery goers to this
day.
Some parts of the portrait are so expressively condensed that they have become
independent artistic works of their own. These would include the drawing of the
horse’s head with its swerving eyes and its pointed dagger-like tongue inside
its wide open jaws.
Guernica, as soon as it had been finished, was exhibited in the Spanish booth
during the Paris International Exhibition. It has since garnered worldwide
appreciation and critical acclaim.
Guernica Seeks Revenge
As he was deeply moved by a wave of intense vehemence when he began drawing
Guernica, Picasso ignored all conventional means and traditional principles such
as theme, imitation, exemplification, perspective and condensation or
concentration.
He abandoned all traditional artistic tricks, even deliberately rejecting color
itself so as not to passively affect the content of the portrait or spoil its
dramatic integration. Viewers only see black, white and gray colors mingled with
one another in a systematic and methodical chaos. Shapes are freed from their
traditional outer appearance but still keep their implicit symbolic values. The
twisted faces, wide-open mouths, moaning birds, the horrified neighing horse,
and the other elements of the piece all symbolize the barbarity and
aggressiveness of war.
History proves that Picasso was righteous in his outrage and in his mission to
present a warning to all mankind; and Guernica, being the scream of a revolting
earth that calls for revenge, is still an artistic symbol that has not lost its
significance.
