Guernica(Picasso)

Guernicais a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artistPablo Picasso.It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerfulanti-warpainting in history.It is exhibited in theMuseo Reina SofíainMadrid.

Guernica
Artist	Pablo Picasso
Year	1937
Medium	Oil on canvas
Movement	Cubism,Surrealism
Dimensions	349.3 cm × 776.5 cm (137.4 in × 305.5 in)
Location	Museo Reina Sofía,Madrid

The grey, black, and white painting, on a canvas 3.49 meters (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 in) across, portrays the suffering wrought by violence and chaos. Prominently featured inthe compositionare a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, a dead baby, a dismembered soldier, and flames.

Picasso paintedGuernicaat his home inParisin response to the 26 April 1937bombing of Guernica,a town in theBasque Countryin northern Spain, byNazi GermanyandFascist Italy.Upon completion,Guernicawas exhibited at theSpanish pavilionat the1937 Paris International Expositionand then at other venues around the world. The touring exhibition was used to raise funds for Spanish war relief.The painting soon became widely acclaimed, helping to bring worldwide attention to theSpanish Civil Warthat took place from 1936 to 1939.

It is widely thought thatSurrealistphotographer and anti-fascist activistDora Maar,Picasso's romantic partner at the time, had a significant influence on the style and politicized theme ofGuernica.Unlike Picasso, Maar was deeply involved in left-wing political activism when they met. Amar Gallery owner states, “She ­influenced Picasso to paintGuernica– he had never entered political painting before,”.Additionally, as a photographer, Dora Maar introduced Picasso to darkroom techniques during the year he createdGuernica.Her oeuvre of black-and-white photography likely influenced his decision to forgo his characteristic use of color, renderingGuernicain stark monochrome.

Commission

In January 1937, while Pablo Picasso was living in Paris onRue des Grands Augustins,he was commissioned by theSpanish Republicangovernment to create a large artwork for the Spanish pavilion at theExposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne,a 1937 Paris International Exposition.Picasso, who had last visited Spain in 1934 and would never return, was the Honorary Director-in-Exile of thePrado Museum.

Picasso worked somewhat dispassionately from January until late April on the project's initial sketches, which depicted his perennial theme of an artist's studio.Then, immediately upon hearing reports of the 26 April bombing of Guernica, poetJuan Larreavisited Picasso's home to urge him to make the bombing his subject.Days later, on 1 May, Picasso readGeorge Steer's eyewitness account of the attack, which originally had been published in bothThe TimesandThe New York Timeson 28 April, and abandoned his initial idea. Acting on Larrea's suggestion, Picasso began sketching a series of preliminary drawings forGuernica.

Historical context

See also:Bombing of Guernica;Spanish Civil War;andSpanish Civil War, 1937

Bombing of 26 April 1937

Guernica in ruins, 1937

During the Spanish Civil War the Republican forces, made up of communists, socialists, anarchists, and others with differing goals, united in their opposition to the Nationalists, led by GeneralFrancisco Franco,who sought to establish a fascist dictatorship. The Nationalists perceivedGuernica,a quiet village in the province ofBiscayin Basque Country, as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the center of Basque culture.

On Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of theNazi GermanyCondor Legion,commanded by ColonelWolfram von Richthofen,bombed Guernica for about two hours.In his 30 April 1937 journal entry von Richthofen noted that when the squadron arrived "there was smoke everywhere" from the attack by three aircraft, and since nobody could see the roads, bridges, and suburbs "they just dropped everything right into the center. The 250s toppled a number of houses and destroyed the water mains. The incendiaries now could spread and become effective. The materials of the houses: tile roofs, wooden porches, and half-timbering resulted in complete annihilation."

Monday was Guernica's market day, and since most of its men were away fighting on behalf of the Republicans, at the time of the bombing the town was populated mostly by women and children,many of whom were congregated in the center of town. When the main bombardment began the roads were already full of debris and the bridges leading out of town destroyed, and the residents were unable to escape.

Guernica, the capital ofBiscay,was 10 kilometers from the front lines and in-between the front lines and Bilbao. A Republican retreat towards Bilbao, or an advance towards it, had to pass through Guernica.Richthofen's 26 April 1937 diary entry states the town was targeted "...to halt and disrupt the Red withdrawal which has to pass through here." The following day, Richthofen wrote in his diary, "Guernica burning".The nearest military target, a war product factory on Guernica's outskirts, went through the attack unscathed, so the attack was widely condemned as a terror bombing.

Aftermath

Damage sustained during the air attack

The TimesjournalistGeorge Steerpropelled this event onto the international scene, and brought it to Pablo Picasso's attention, in an eyewitness account published on 28 April in bothThe TimesandThe New York Times.On the 29th it appeared inL'Humanité.Steer wrote:

Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of three types of German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers, did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1,000 lbs. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to machinegun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in the fields. "

Picasso lived in Paris during its World War IIGerman occupation.A widely repeated story is that a German officer saw a photo ofGuernicain Picasso's apartment and asked, "Did you do that?", and Picasso responded, "No, you did."

Referring to Picasso's painting, art theoristRudolf Arnheimwrites:

The women and children makeGuernicathe image of innocent, defenseless humanity victimized. Also, women and children have often been presented by Picasso as the very perfection of mankind. An assault on women and children is, in Picasso's view, directed at the core of mankind.

Creation and the influence of Dora Maar on the painting

On 11 May the canvas is ready, and immediately the composition is laid down as a linear structure that covers the whole surface. Work on the mural is accompanied by more than thirty studies for the details. The rough plan exists from the beginning, but it takes three weeks before the picture receives its final form. The bull's head remains where it was first put, but the body is turned around to the left. On 20 May the horse lifts its head. The body of the soldier stretched on the floor from left to right changes position on 4 June, then head and hand take on their finished shape.

At the last moment the artist makes one decisive adjustment: the drama first took place on a street with burning houses in the background. Now, suddenly, the diagonals are accentuated, and thereby space becomes ambiguous, unreal, inside and outside at the same time. The lamp is hung over the horse's head, looking on the dreadful scene like a wide-open eye. The construction is strengthened, the mural more strongly integrated withinSert's architecture. Into the hand of the dying soldier, next to the broken sword, Picasso puts the little flower of hope.

The picture was finished about mid-June. Hundreds of thousands of exhibition-goers wandered by, looking on it as a wall decoration, just as Europe wandered by the human drama of the Spanish Civil War—as if it were a matter concerning only the inhabitants of the peninsula. They disregarded the warning, did not understand that democracy on the whole continent was at stake.

W. J. H. B. Sandberg,Daedalus,1960

Dora Maarfound a large enough studio for Picasso to paintGuernicain. Through her connections in the left-wing community, she gained access to a space on Rue des Grands-Augustins, near Notre-Dame. This building had previously served as the headquarters of the ‘Contre-Attaque’ group, of which Maar was a dedicated member. Having listened to anti-fascist speeches there, she recognized it as the ideal location for Picasso's monumental protest artwork.Not only did she find the studio large enough for Picasso to paintGuernicain, she also had exclusive access to photograph the work in progress.

“Maar’s practice of photography influenced the art of Picasso – she had a great influence on his work,” said Antoine Romand, a Dora Maar expert. “She contested him. She pushed him to do something new and to be more creative politically.Some argue that Picasso borrowed from Maar's photographic oeuvre by paintingGuernicain stark black and white, which was a departure from his usual colorful style.At Picasso’s request, Maar painted part of the dying horse inGuernica.Maar accompanied Picasso in the studio, giving her the opportunity to observe each phase ofGuernica’s creation over 36 days. While Picasso painted, she took photographs, turning Picasso into her photographic subject.Scholars and art critics argue that the black and white photographic style of the painting can be attributed to Maar's own black and white photographs, in stark contrast to Picasso's usual colorful style.

Guernicawas painted using a matte house paint specially formulated at Picasso's request to have the least possible gloss.American artistJohn Ferrenassisted him in preparing the monumental canvas,and photographerDora Maar,who had been working with Picasso since mid-1936 photographing his studio and teaching him the technique ofcameraless photography,documented its creation.Apart from their documentary and publicity value, Maar's photographs "helped Picasso to eschew color and give the work the black-and-white immediacy of a photograph", according to art historianJohn Richardson.

Picasso, who rarely allowed strangers into his studio to watch him work, admitted influential visitors to observe his progress onGuernica,believing that the publicity would help the antifascist cause.As his work on the mural progressed, Picasso explained: "The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death?... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall callGuernica,and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death. "

Picasso worked on the painting for 35 days, and finished it on 4 June 1937.

Composition

The scene occurs within a large room. On the left, a wide-eyed bull, with a tail suggesting rising flame and smoke as if seen through a window, stands over a grieving woman holding a dead child in her arms. The woman's head is thrown back and her mouth is wide open. A horse falls in agony in the center of the room, with a large gaping hole in its side, as if it had just been run through by a spear or javelin. The horse appears to be wearingchain mailarmor, decorated with vertical tally marks arranged in rows.

A dead and dismembered soldier lies under the horse. The hand of his severed right arm grasps a shattered sword, from which a flower grows. The open palm of his left hand contains a stigma, a symbol of martyrdom derived from thestigmataofChrist.A bare light bulb in the shape of anall-seeing eyeblazes over the suffering horse's head.

To the horse's upper right a frightened woman's head and extended right arm reach through a window. As she witnesses the scene she carries a flame-lit lamp in her right hand, and holds it near the bare bulb. Below her a woman in shock staggers from the right towards the center while looking into the blazing light bulb with a blank stare.

Daggers that suggest screaming have replaced the tongues of the horse, the bull, and the grieving woman. To the bull's right a dove appears on a cracked wall through which bright light from the outside shines.

On the far right of the room there is a fourth woman, her arms raised in terror. Her wide-open mouth and thrown back head echo the grieving woman's. She is entrapped by fire from above and below, her right hand suggesting the shape of an airplane.

A dark wall with an open door defines the right side of the room.

A "hidden" image formed by the horse appears inGuernica:the horse's nostrils and upper teeth can be seen as a human skull facing left and slightly downward.

Another hidden image is of a bull that appears to gore the horse from underneath. The bull's head is formed mainly by the horse's entire front leg which has the knee on the ground. The leg's knee-cap forms the head's nose. A horn appears within the horse's breast.

Symbolism and interpretations

Interpretations ofGuernicavary widely and contradict one another. This extends, for example, to the mural's two dominant elements: the bull and the horse. Art historian Patricia Failing said,

"The bull and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture. Picasso himself certainly used these characters to play many different roles over time. This has made the task of interpreting the specific meaning of the bull and the horse very tough. Their relationship is a kind of ballet that was conceived in a variety of ways throughout Picasso's career."

When pressed to explain the elements inGuernica,Picasso said,

...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.

InThe Dream and Lie of Franco,a series of narrative sketches Picasso also created for the World's Fair,Francois depicted as a monster that first devours his own horse and later does battle with an angry bull. Work on these illustrations began before the bombing of Guernica, and four additional panels were added, three of which relate directly to the Guernica mural.

According to scholar Beverly Ray, the following list of interpretations reflects the general consensus of historians: "The shape and posture of the bodies express protest"; "Picasso uses black, white, and grey paint to set a somber mood and express pain and chaos"; "flaming buildings and crumbling walls not only express the destruction of Guernica, but reflect the destructive power of civil war"; "the newspaper print used in the painting reflects how Picasso learned of the massacre"; "The light bulb in the painting represents the sun"; and "The broken sword near the bottom of the painting symbolizes the defeat of the people at the hand of their tormentors".

Alejandro Escalona said, "The chaos unfolding seems to happen in closed quarters provoking an intense feeling of oppression. There is no way out of the nightmarish cityscape. The absence of color makes the violent scene developing right before your eyes even more horrifying. The blacks, whites, and grays startle you—especially because you are used to see war images broadcast live and in high-definition right to your living room."

In drawing attention to a number of preliminary studies, the so-called primary project,that show an atelier installation incorporating the central triangular shape which reappears in the final version ofGuernica,Becht-Jördens and Wehmeier interpret the painting as a self-referential composition in the tradition of atelier paintings such asLas MeninasbyDiego Velázquez.In hischef d'oeuvre,Picasso seems to be trying to define his role and his power as an artist in the face of political power and violence. But far from being a mere political painting,Guernicashould be seen as Picasso's comment on what art can actually contribute towards the self-assertion that liberates every human being and protects the individual against overwhelming forces such as political crime, war, violence and death.

Exhibition

1937 Paris International Exhibition

The largeflag of the Second Spanish Republic,with horizontal bars of red, yellow, and purple, marking the place of exhibition of Picasso's paintingGuernicain Paris during the World Expo in 1937 (Agfacolor)

A replica (built in Barcelona in 1992) of the pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the1937 Paris International Exhibition

Guernicawas unveiled and initially exhibited in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion at theParis International Exposition,where Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had huge pavilions. The Pavilion, which was financed by the Spanish Republican government at the time of civil war, was built to exhibit the Spanish government's struggle for existence contrary to the Exposition's technology theme. The Pavilion's entrance presented an enormous photographic mural of Republican soldiers accompanied by the slogan:

We are fighting for the essential unity of Spain.

We are fighting for the integrity of Spanish soil.

We are fighting for the independence of our country and for the right of the Spanish people to determine their own destiny.

The display ofGuernicawas accompanied by the poem "The Victory of Guernica" byPaul Éluard,and the pavilion displayedThe ReaperbyJoan MiróandMercury FountainbyAlexander Calder,both of whom were sympathetic to the Republican cause.

AtGuernica's Paris Exhibition unveiling it garnered little attention. The public's reaction to the painting was mixed.Max Aub,one of the officials in charge of the Spanish pavilion, was compelled to defend the work against a group of Spanish officials who objected to the mural's modernist style and sought to replace it with a more traditional painting that was also commissioned for the exhibition,Madrid 1937 (Black Aeroplanes)by Horacio Ferrer de Morgado.Some Marxist groups criticized Picasso's painting as lacking in political commitment, and faulted it for not offering a vision of a better future.In contrast, Morgado's painting was a great success with Spanish Communists and with the public.The art criticClement Greenbergwas also critical ofGuernica,and in a later essay he termed the painting "jerky" and "too compressed for its size", and compared it unfavorably to the "magnificently lyrical"The Charnel House(1944–1948), a later antiwar painting by Picasso.

Among the painting's admirers were art criticJean Cassouand poetJosé Bergamín,both of whom praised the painting as quintessentially Spanish.Michel Leirisperceived inGuernicaa foreshadowing: "On a black and white canvas that depicts ancient tragedy... Picasso also writes our letter of doom: all that we love is going to be lost..."Jean Cocteaualso praised the painting and declared it a cross that "[General] Franco would always carry on his shoulder."

Possibly as a riposte to Picasso's painting, the Nazis in June or July 1937 commissioned their official war artistClaus Bergento produce a patriotic painting ofThe Bombardment of Almeria by the 'Admiral Scheer'(National Maritime Museum,London).The work, done in a realistic style, was completed quickly for display in theGreat German Art Exhibitionin Munich, 1937.

European tour

Guernica,for which Picasso was paid 150,000 francs for his costs by the Spanish Republican government, was one of the few major paintings that Picasso did not sell directly to his exclusive contractedart dealerand friend,Paul Rosenberg.However, after its exhibition Rosenberg organised a four-man extravaganzaScandinaviantour of 118 works by Picasso,Matisse,Braque,andHenri Laurens.The tour's main attraction wasGuernica.

From January to April 1938 the tour visitedOslo,Copenhagen,Stockholm,andGöteborg.Starting in late SeptemberGuernicawas exhibited inLondon'sWhitechapel Art Gallery.This stop was organized bySir Roland Penrosewith Labour Party leaderClement Attlee,and the painting arrived in London on 30 September, the same day theMunich Agreementwas signed by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It then travelled toLeeds,Liverpool,and, in early 1939,Manchester.There, Manchester Foodship For Spain, a group of artists and activists engaged in sending aid to the people of Spain, exhibited the painting in the HE Nunn & Co Ford automobile showroom for two weeks.Guernicathen returned briefly to France.

American tour

After Francisco Franco's victory in Spain,Guernicawas sent to the United States to raise funds and support for Spanish refugees.It was first shown at the Valentine Gallery in New York City in May 1939. The San Francisco Museum of Art (later renamed theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art) gave the work its first museum appearance in the United States from 27 August to 19 September 1939. New York'sMuseum of Modern Art(MoMA) then mounted an exhibition from 15 November until 7 January 1940, entitled:Picasso: 40 Years of His Art.The exhibition, which was organized by MoMA's directorAlfred H. Barrin collaboration with theArt Institute of Chicago,contained 344 works, includingGuernicaand its studies.

At Picasso's request the safekeeping ofGuernicawas then entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art, and it was his expressed desire that the painting should not be delivered to Spain until liberty and democracy had been established in the country.Between 1939 and 1952,Guernicatraveled extensively in the United States. Between 1941 and 1942, it was exhibited at Harvard University'sFogg Museumtwice.

Between 1953 and 1956 it was shown inBrazil,then at the first Picasso retrospective inMilan,Italy, and then in numerous other major European cities before returning to MoMA for a retrospective celebrating Picasso's 75th birthday. It then went toChicagoandPhiladelphia.By this time, concern for the state of the painting resulted in a decision to keep it in one place: a room on MoMA's third floor, where it was accompanied by several of Picasso's preliminary studies and some ofDora Maar's photographs of the work in progress. The studies and photos were often loaned for other exhibitions, but until 1981,Guernicaitself remained at MoMA.

During theVietnam War,the room containing the painting became the site of occasional anti-war vigils. These were usually peaceful and uneventful, but on 28 February 1974,Tony Shafrazi—ostensibly protesting Second LieutenantWilliam Calley's petition for habeas corpus following his indictment and sentencing for the murder of 109 Vietnamese civilians during theMy Lai massacre—defaced the painting with red spray paint, painting the words "KILL LIES ALL". The paint was removed with relative ease from the varnished surface.

Establishment in Spain

As early as 1968, Franco had expressed an interest in havingGuernicacome to Spain.However, Picasso refused to allow this until the Spanish people again enjoyed a republic. He later added other conditions, such as the restoration of "public liberties and democratic institutions". Picasso died in 1973. Franco, ten years Picasso's junior, died two years later, in 1975. After Franco's death, Spain was transformed into a democraticconstitutional monarchy,ratified bya new constitutionin 1978. However, MoMA was reluctant to give up one of its greatest treasures and argued that a monarchy did not represent the republic that had been stipulated in Picasso's will as a condition for the painting's delivery. Under great pressure from a number of observers, MoMA finally ceded the painting to Spain in 1981. The Spanish historianJavier Tusellwas one of the negotiators.

Upon its arrival in Spain in September 1981,it was first displayed behind bomb-and bullet-proof glass screensat theCasón del Buen Retiroin Madrid in time to celebrate the centenary of Picasso's birth, 25 October.The exhibition was visited by almost a million people in the first year.Since that time there has never been any attempted vandalism or other security threat to the painting.

A tiled wall in Gernika claims"Guernica" Gernikara,"TheGuernica(painting) to Gernika "

In 1992, the painting was moved from theMuseo del Pradoto a purpose-built gallery at theMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,both in Madrid, along with about two dozen preparatory works.This action was controversial in Spain, since Picasso's will stated that the painting should be displayed at the Prado. However, the move was part of a transfer of all of the Prado's collections of art after the early 19th century to other nearby buildings in the city for reasons of space; the Reina Sofía, which houses the capital's national collection of 20th-century art, was the natural place to move it to. At the Reina Sofía, the painting has roughly the same protection as any other work.

Basque nationalistshave advocated that the picture be brought to the Basque Country,especially after the building of theGuggenheim Bilbao Museum.Officials at the Reina Sofía claimthat the canvas is now thought to be too fragile to move. Even the staff of the Guggenheim do not see a permanent transfer of the painting as possible, although the Basque government continues to support the possibility of a temporary exhibition inBilbao.

Tapestry at the United Nations

A full-sizetapestrycopy of Picasso'sGuernica,byJacqueline de la Baume Dürrbach,hangs at theHeadquarters of the United NationsinNew York Cityat the entrance to theSecurity Councilroom.It is less monochromatic than the original and uses several shades of brown.

TheGuernicatapestry was first displayed from 1985 to 2009, and returned in 2015. Originally commissioned in 1955 byNelson Rockefeller,since Picasso refused to sell him the original,the tapestry was placed on loan to the United Nations by the Rockefeller estate in 1985.

On 5 February 2003 a large blue curtain was placed to cover over the work at the UN, so that it would not be visible in the background during press conferences byColin PowellandJohn Negroponteas they were arguing in favor of war on Iraq.On the following day, UN officials claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Some diplomats, however, in talks with journalists claimed that the Bush administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other US diplomats argued for war on Iraq.In a critique of the covering, columnist Alejandro Escalona hypothesized thatGuernica's "unappealing ménage of mutilated bodies and distorted faces proved to be too strong for articulating to the world why the US was going to war in Iraq", while referring to the work as "an inconvenient masterpiece".

On 17 March 2009, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Marie Okabe announced that theGuernicatapestry had been moved to a gallery in London in advance of extensive renovations at UN Headquarters. TheGuernicatapestry was the showcase piece for the grand reopening of theWhitechapel Gallery.It was located in the 'Guernica room' which was originally part of the old Whitechapel Library.In 2012 the tapestry was on loan from the Rockefeller family to theSan Antonio Museum of ArtinSan Antonio, Texas.It was returned to the UN by March 2015.Nelson A. Rockefeller Jr., the owner of the tapestry, took it back in February 2021.In February 2022, it was returned to the wall outside the UN Security Council.

Significance and legacy

"Guernicais to painting whatBeethoven'sNinth Symphonyis to music: a cultural icon that speaks to mankind not only against war but also of hope and peace. It is a reference when speaking about genocide fromEl SalvadortoBosnia."

Alejandro Escalona, on the 75th anniversary of the painting's creation

During the 1970s,Guernicawas a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Franco regime following Franco's death and ofBasque nationalism.TheBasque lefthas repeatedly used imagery from the picture. An example is the organizationEtxerat,which uses a reversed image of the lamp as its symbol.Guernicahas since become a universal and powerful symbol warning humanity against the suffering and devastation of war.There are no obvious references to the specific attack, making its message universal and timeless.

Art historian and curatorW. J. H. B. Sandbergargued inDaedalusin 1960 that Picasso pioneered a "new language" combining expressionistic and cubist techniques inGuernica.Sandberg wrote thatGuernicaconveyed an “expressionistic message” in its focus on the inhumanity of the air raid, while using "the language of cubism". For Sandberg, the work's defining cubist features included its use of diagonals, which rendered the painting's setting "ambiguous, unreal, inside and outside at the same time".In 2016, the British art criticJonathan Jonescalled the painting a "Cubist apocalypse" and stated that Picasso "was trying to show the truth so viscerally and permanently that it could outstare the daily lies of the age of dictators".

Works inspired byGuernicaincludeFaith Ringgold's 1967 paintingThe American People Series #20: Die;Goshka Macuga'sThe Nature of the Beast(2009–2010), which used the Whitechapel-hostedUnited NationsGuernicatapestry;The Keiskamma Guernicas(2010–2017); and Erica Luckert's theatrical production ofGuernica(2011–2012).Art and design historian Dr Nicola Ashmore curated an exhibition,Guernica Remakings,at theUniversity of Brightongalleries from 29 July 2017 to 23 August 2017.

See also

• Guernica,1950 film directed byAlain Resnaisand Robert Hessens
• The 2018 television seriesGeniusfeatures Picasso's life and work, includingGuernica
• The Weeping Woman,1937 Picasso painting
• Guernica,1937 sculpture byRené Iché
• The Charnel House,1944–45 Picasso painting
• Massacre in Korea,1951 Picasso painting
• Dove,1949 Picasso lithograph
• 1980 BBC series100 Great Paintings
• "Guernica", 2023 song byIan Hunter
• The Hiroshima Panels,a series of 15 panels each measuring 1.8 metres x 7.2 metres depicting theAtomic bombings of Hiroshima

References and sources

References

Sources

• Arnheim, Rudolf.(1973).The Genesis of a Painting: Picasso's Guernica.London: University of California Press.ISBN978-0-520-25007-9
• Barton, Simon. (2004).A History of Spain.New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Becht-Jördens, Gereon: PicassosGuernicaals kunsttheoretisches Programm. In: Becht-Jördens, Gereon and Wehmeier, (In German) Peter M.:Picasso und die christliche Ikonographie. Mutterbeziehung und künstlerische Position.Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 2003, S. 209–237ISBN3-496-01272-2
• Becraft, Melvin E.Picasso's Guernica – Images within Images 3rd EditionPDF download
• Beevor, Antony.(2006)The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.ISBN978-0-297-84832-5
• Blunt, Anthony.(1969)Picasso's Guernica.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-500135-4
• Bonazzoli, Francesca, and Michele Robecchi. (2014) "Pablo Picasso: Guernica", inMona Lisa to Marge: How the World's Greatest Artworks Entered Popular Culture.New York: Prestel.ISBN978-379134877-3
• Campbell, Peter (2009). "At the New Whitechapel"London Review of Books31(8), 30 April 2009.
• Cohen, David. (2003)Hidden Treasures: What's So Controversial About Picasso'sGuernica?,Slate,6 February 2003. Accessed 16 July 2006.
• Fluegel, Jane. (1980) "Chronology" in Rubin (1980)Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective.
• Francesconi, Elizabeth. (2006)"A Look Inside Picasso's War Images",discourse: An Online Journal by the students of Southern Methodist University,Spring 2006.
• Granell, Eugenio Fernándes,Picasso's Guernica: the end of a Spanish eraArchived10 August 2023 at theWayback Machine(Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1981)ISBN0-8357-1206-0,ISBN978-0-8357-1206-4
• Greenberg, Clement(1993).The Collected Essays and Criticism; Volume 4: Modernism with a Vengeance, 1957–1969.University of Chicago Press.ISBN0226306240
• Harris, Mark and Becraft, Melvin E.Picasso's SecretGuernica
• Hensbergen, Gijs van. (2004)Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon.London: Bloomsbury.ISBN978-1-58234-124-8
• Hensbergen, Gijs van. (2009)"Piecing togetherGuernica".BBC News Magazine:7 April 2009. Accessed: 14 August 2009.
• Hoberman, J."Pop and Circumstance".The Nation,13 December 2004, 22–26.
• Kennedy, Maev. (2009)"Picasso tapestry ofGuernicaheads to UK ",London:The Guardian,26 January 2009. Accessed: 14 August 2009.
• Mallen, EnriqueOn-Line Picasso Project – OPP.37:001.
• Martin, Russell. (2003).Picasso's War.London: Simon & Schuster UK.ISBN978-0-7434-7863-2
• Martin, Russell. (2002)Picasso's War: The Destruction of Guernica and the Masterpiece that Changed the World(2002).On-line excerpts link.
• Oppler, Ellen C. (ed). (1988).Picasso's Guernica (Norton Critical Studies in art History).New York: W. W. Norton.ISBN0-393-95456-0
• PBS On-line supplement to "Treasures of the World" series, "Guernica:Testimony to War "withGuernica timeline.
• Pisik, Betsy. (2003) "The Picasso Cover-Up". TheWashington Times,3 February 2003. Re-published atCommonDreams.org.Accessed: 14 August 2009
• Preston, Paul.(2007) "George Steer andGuernica".History Today57 (2007): 12–19.
• Ray, Beverly. (2006) "Analyzing Political Art to Get at Historical Fact:Guernicaand the Spanish Civil War ". The Social Studies 97 (2006): 168–171.
• Richardson, John (2016) "A Different Guernica".The New York Review of Books,12 May 2016,63(8): 4–6.
• Rubin, William, ed. (1980)Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective.New York:The Museum of Modern Art.ISBN0-87070-519-9
• Thomas, Gordon & Morgan-Witts, Max. (1975).The Day Guernica Died.London: Hodder & Stoughton.ISBN0-340-19043-4
• Tóibín, Colm. (2006)"The art of war",London:The Guardian,29 April 2006. Accessed: 14 August 2009.
• Witham, Larry (2013).Picasso and the chess player: Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and the battle for the soul of modern art.Hanover; London: University Press of New England.ISBN9781611682533

External links

• Rethinking Guernica– Museo Reina Sofía site with more than 2000 documents referenced and a gigapixel image of the painting.
• Art Opposes Injustice! – Picasso'sGuernica:For Lifeby Dorothy Koppelman
• 3-D Guernica,YouTube
• Guardian:Picasso'sGuernicaBattle Lives On26 April 2007
• Picasso's "Secret"Guernica
• Socialist Worker:Guernica:Shock and Awe in PaintArchived24 September 2015 at theWayback Machine24 April 2007
• The New Yorker:Spanish Lessons, Picasso in Madridby Peter Schjeldahl, 19 June 2006
• X-ray Shows Picasso'sGuernicaPainting has Suffered a lot but is not in DangerAssociated Press, 23 July 2008
• GuernicaRemakingsWebsite collating and analysing the activity of remaking versions the iconic painting.