Pablo Picasso, Guernica, Paris 1937
Guernica is a large mural painting produced by Pablo Picasso for the World’s Fair Spanish Pavilion in 1937. It is 11 feet tall and 25.6 feet long painted in tones of black, white, grey, and pains grey. He produced the painting in about three months. It was a reaction the bombing of the village of Guernica in the Basque region in Spain. The town was completely leveled by German bombers. This type of warfare was only made possible with the technological advances in science. The production of larger capacity aircraft allowed for more and larger bombs to be carried in a single plane load.
World War II is largely a continuation of WWI and the settlement that resulted. War technologies that had emerged in WW I were refined in WW II. Guernica speaks to some of the effects of technology. There is a bare light bulb in the center of the piece that offers a sense of sterile clean light and speaks to the industrialization that had and was taking place during this time period. Juxtaposed to the light bulb is an oil lamp held by a wailing woman. There is a broken sword under the galloping horse, an image of a once strong weapon being shattered by a new power.
The Basque region in Spain is the mythological and traditional birthplace of the Spain, so bombing it really was an attack by the modern new world on the older culture. Guernica captures the dangers posed by rapidly advancing technology when used in the wrong way.
I personally love the painting and find it deeply moving. It was the first masterwork of art that I exposed too beyond the Mona Lisa. I learned about the painting when I was about 9 years old and saw the PBS special on it. I love that it is in black and white and the size of it is amazing. I also think that the time by painting it so fast he captured what was happening in Europe with the war. The images are haunting and graphic, but intentional all at the same time. I could relate to the piece very much. As I have become older I have learned to love it even more. I do think that it is a powerful anti war piece.
I liked the way Picasso styled the piece so much that in my painting class last year I did an Alaska version of the Guernica. After that project I grew to appreciate Guernica even more. I have included the piece for comparison.
http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/gmain.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)
http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp
joelisaak 
I think you did a great job on your analysis of this piece. You clearly stated where the painting was made as well as when and by whom. The relevance of the piece to World War II, as you stated, is easily seen in the painting. I agree with you that the painting portrays the effects of technology at the time. I thought the piece that you attached was also a very moving piece of work, well done!
I really enjoyed your post! You had all the crucial bits and pieces and made sure to elaborate on the connection to WWI and innovations in technology. I really appreciated all the information you put in this post; it shows that you really put time and thought into it. I love that you remember seeing a PBS special on this piece when you were a kid! I also like this piece. It is great how it has so much going on and be so meaningful and use only 4 different colors. Nice!
Excellent post! I particularly enjoyed your personal history and background with the piece. Your “Alaskan version” is a very nice touch that displays further your connection and appreciation for this piece.
All of the required factual information is stated: title in italics, artists name, location, and date. Source are listed clearly and substantiate your work.
You connected this piece to World War I and the use of technology to fight wars in general. This is indeed a meaningful political message. Without this explanation I do not think I would have been able to gather this message from the mural alone. Were political meanings such as this common in Picasso’s work?
Aesthetically this piece challenges me. I have to spend time with it and continue to piece together the various characters and elements to try to understand what is happening. I like the piece for it’s unique abstract style, and complexity. Therefore I much appreciate an accompanying explanation.
Reading your post has perked my interest in Picasso and I want to seek out this PBS documentary that you mentioned. Great job!
I see a lot of interesting content on your blog.
You have to spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of time, there is a tool
that creates unique, SEO friendly articles in couple of minutes, just search in google – k2 unlimited content
I read a lot of interesting content here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing, i know how to
save you a lot of time, there is an online tool that creates high quality,
google friendly posts in seconds, just search in google – laranitas
free content source