Guernica (Painting)

Guernica, Spanish painter Pablo Picasso created in 1937. The painting depicts the destruction of the Basque town of Guernica, which was bombed on 26 April of the same year by the air forces of Nazi Germany during the Spanish Civil War. The work is regarded as one of the artist’s most important statements of political commitment.

The Spanish Republican Government commissioned Picasso to create a special work for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. After learning of the Guernica massacre, Picasso began work on the painting and completed it in approximately two months. The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Fair.

^Guernica (Flickr)

Guernica is an oil on canvas painting measuring approximately 3.5 by 7.8 metres. The palette consists exclusively of black, white and grey tones. The use of monochrome is thought to reflect the black-and-white tradition of contemporary press photography and evoke the dark atmosphere of war.

The work reflects the destructive impact of war and the tragedy suffered by civilians. Picasso did not employ any direct political or narrative elements; instead, he conveyed a universal theme of violence and suffering through symbols. Figures in the painting include a bull, a wounded horse, a woman carrying a dead child, screaming women, a soldier with a broken sword, a bird and a woman holding a lamp. The figures in the composition serve not as representations of physical reality but as an expressive portrayal of the horror unleashed by war.

Picasso never provided explicit explanations for the symbols in the painting. This has allowed Guernica to be reinterpreted across different periods and contexts.

• The bull, according to some interpretations, represents fascism, while others see it as a reference to the resilience of the Spanish people.
• The wounded horse symbolizes the people bearing the heaviest burden of war.
• The broken sword and flower symbolize hope in the face of destruction.
• The lamp shaped like an eye carries layered meanings such as witness, surveillance or the search for truth.

Guernica generated widespread resonance not only in the art world but also in politics. Throughout the 20th century, it was adopted as a symbol of anti-war sentiment and became a universal expression of resistance against fascism. It is known that during Nazi Germany’s occupation of France, Picasso distributed reproductions of the painting to raise public awareness against fascism.

^Guernica (Flickr)

Picasso stipulated that the painting of Guernica should not be returned to Spain until democracy was restored. Consequently, for many years the work remained in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 1981, it was transferred to Madrid, to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, where it is still exhibited today.

The impact of Guernica extended beyond the painting itself. In 1955, Nelson A. Rockefeller commissioned a tapestry inspired by the original painting. The tapestry was woven at Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach in the Var region of France and was personally supervised by the artist Picasso. Measuring approximately 10 by 22 feet (about 3 by 6.7 metres), the tapestry was loaned to the United Nations by the Rockefeller family in 1985.

It was hung at the entrance to the United Nations Security Council Chamber on 13 September 1985, temporarily removed in 2021, and reinstalled on 5 February 2022. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has highlighted the powerful symbolic value of the tapestry as a message of peace. Internationally, the tapestry is regarded as an artwork that simultaneously embodies the horror of war and the hope for peace.