THE STORY
BEHIND “EL GUERNICA”
May 1937. I found myself sitting in the living
room’s armchair, observing in front of me one of my masterpieces, “El Guernica”,
which narrates a horrible event
Several weeks ago, as I do every day, I bought
“L’Humanité” newspaper and what was my surprise when I discovered that, during
the Spanish civil war and during the early afternoon of the 26th of
May of 1937, a series of planes bombed Gernica intensely. For three hours and a
half the city was attacked by German an Italian air forces. The first indiscriminate bombing of civilians
on European soil. The bombing was carried out under the orders of General
Franco. From 7000 inhabitants, 1654 died and 889 were injured.
Horrified by this event that I had just read, I
decided to accept the request of the Director General of Fine Arts, Josep
Renau, at the petition of the Government of the Spanish Republic, which was to
make a picture in order to attract public attention to the cause Republican in
the Spanish Civil War.
 |
| One official asked Picasso after he had seen the painting: - Have you done this? And he replied: No, you have been. |
Through my painting, I wanted to show the
cruelty and destruction of war. All the characters yell, gesticulate and die
under the blind bombs that everything destroy. Hopelessness is present, as well
as the pain of the defenseless civil population, but also the fallen militaries
in the defense and the animals, out of the human madness. They are collected in
contrasting colors, black, white and gray shades to accentuate the dramatism.
I don’t want this painting to narrate the
occurred events; I want it to symbolize the pain and suffering that they
caused.
Webgraphy:
- Guernica
(Picasso)- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Bombing of
Guernica- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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