The Spanish abstractionist Pablo Picasso reacted sharply to social problems, reflecting the look at them in his work. One of his most famous works is Guernica. This picture reflects the artist’s worldview, expresses his vision of the world and his attitude to the events around him.
History of creation
Pablo Picasso's painting “Guernica” became a manifesto against cruelty and violence. The symbolism of the work encrypted the history of Europe during the Civil War and reflected the suffering of the whole world. The reason for the creation of the picture was the fascist bombing of the eponymous Spanish town. “Guernica” by Picasso contains archetypal symbols and images. They reflect the spirit of modernity.
One of the most important masterpieces of the 20th century, “Guernica” by Picasso, was created by the author in a fit of creative madness. He was so impressed by what happened that he created a canvas with incredible energy, bewitching and frightening, as well as the events that took place in the Basque town on April 26, 1937. The bombing of fascist aircraft destroyed the city by 70% and claimed the lives of over 1,500 people.
Picasso worked on the painting almost continuously and completed it in a month. Many of his friends periodically watched the work and left their comments. For the first time, the finished result was presented at the world exhibition. One of the most valuable photos of “Guernica” by Picasso are photographs taken by the companion of the artist. They told the world the stages of work on the picture.
"Guernica" Picasso: description
“Guernica” is painted in oil and is a fresco canvas measuring 3.5 m high and 7.8 m wide. It was originally planned to make the picture colorful, but from this it lost its oppressive atmosphere. The color scheme is monochrome due to the author’s desire to depict a dead city immersed in darkness. Many critics note the similarity of the image with newspaper clippings of the time and call the picture "a weapon of propaganda."
P. Picasso's painting “Guernica” depicts scenes of suffering, violence, chaos, hopelessness, powerlessness and death. The people and animals depicted in the picture are mutilated and broken, their eyes are full of horror, and their mouths are open in a silent scream. The buildings in the image are destroyed or engulfed in flames.
The style of the picture
“Guernica” can be called graphic panels. Eyewitnesses claim that Picasso worked as a man possessed, which was expressed in the style of painting. The lines pass from smooth, blurry and round like flames of fire to sharp and clear, like broken glass and fragments of shells. The main task of the graphic element was to reflect such emotions as fear, horror, anger and despair. Picasso's drawing is thoroughly accurate. Avoiding detail, he highlights only important characters and allegories.
In the creation of the painting, the means of artistic expression and stylistic techniques borrowed from cubism and surrealism were used. To increase the expression of a black-and-white image, the artist used the imposition of colors, the intersection of lines, played with shadows and shades of gray.
Composition
By the location of the objects, the canvas resembles a triptych - a picture consisting of three independent parts, connected into one whole. If you visually divide “Guernica” into three parts, each of them can really exist separately, preserving its own composition and semantic load.
Everything that happens is enclosed within the room. In the upper left corner of the picture is a bull. Underneath is a woman, she mournes her dead child. To the right of the bull, a little behind, a bird flutters like a dove.
In the center of the composition is a horse. Her posture and gaze look like she is beating in agony and is about to fall dead. Many note that her nose and wide open mouth form something similar to a human skull. At the feet of a horse in an unnatural pose lies a soldier, arms spread wide. In one of them he holds a flower and a fragment of a sword. Above the horse’s head is a lantern or lamp in the form of a bull’s eye. To the right, through an open window, a face resembling an antique mask floats into the room. In her hand she holds a burning candle and looks in horror at what is happening. A little lower - a woman in rags moves to the center, her gaze is directed upwards. If the pictures could sound, we would hear the piercing scream of a bull, a horse and a woman with a child. They are personified by their tongues in the form of sharp daggers.
On the right, the artist depicted a man who, in desperation, raised his hands to the sky. Around him is a fire; he cannot get out anymore. A black wall with a door completes the right edge of the painting.
Symbolism
"Guernica" Picasso speaks the language of symbols. It is full of mysteries and allegories, and each image carries a certain meaning. The main colors in which the picture is made are black, gray and white. They may respectively mean death, ashes, and a grave shroud.
The key figures in the picture are a bull and a horse. According to the most common point of view, the bull personifies the soullessness and indifference, due to which such things as war and fascism can take place. Some believe that he, on the contrary, personifies the triumph of Spain, and the horse - its suffering. The artist himself claimed that the bull is a symbol of cruelty, and the horse is the people. He later said that both animals mean sacrifice. Also, the bull refers us to the image of the minotaur as a symbol of the destructive bestiality.
The eye-shaped lamp is not in vain the semantic center of the picture. On the one hand, it means a certain force that cannot be resisted, and on the other, it illuminates the space around with the light of hope. No wonder in despair the figures in the picture throw their heads back, look up with empty eyes and stretch their arms to the sky.
A convulsing dove obviously represents war. The bird of the world also froze, spreading its wings, raised its head up and opened its beak in a scream.
On the palms of a dead soldier you can see stigmata. Picasso was not religious. With this symbol, he wanted to show suffering for no apparent reason. Like Christ, people are sometimes forced to suffer because someone decided for them that it should be so. So the Spanish people suffered by the will of the Nazis.
A woman with a candle is the image of a person watching from the side. Her eyes express a dumb plea to end the cruelty.
Fate painting
"Guernica" has always caused controversy and conflicting reviews. Someone called it the last masterpiece of Picasso, someone, on the contrary, did not consider it artistically valuable, called it only an anti-fascist proclamation. During the first exhibition, the picture did not impress the audience properly. In this "plagued" canvas, they saw only the semblance of a political manifesto and the tragedy of one small town, not understanding the idea of a protest against general cruelty.
At the beginning of World War II, the Gestapo came to the house of Picasso. On the table, they saw a postcard with a reproduction of Guernica. When asked if he did this, Picasso replied: “You did it ...” It is not known what this unprecedented audacity could have turned out for an artist if it hadn't been for the German sculptor Henri Brecker, who helped solve this problem by patronizing the artists living on that moment in France.
Exhibited for the first time on June 4, 1937, Guernica, according to Picasso, was worthy of being in the Prado Museum in Madrid. There she exhibited in 1981-1992, after which she was transferred to the Museum of Hagia Sophia, where it is located to this day.
Being a monument to despair and destruction, “Guernica” by force of influence carries a constructive mission. Like the woman pictured on it with a candle in her hand, she encourages people to look deep into themselves and find light there. Portraying chaos and pain, the picture is a call to lay down arms. Thus, the main masterpiece of Picasso is, in a broad sense, a manifesto in the name of peace and humanity.