(#2) Pablo Picasso's Guernica(1937)

    Artwork plays a major role in how wars were received by the public, and shows that not all believed in the idealized notion of serving your country and taking down your enemy. There are certain pieces of art that reveal to us the horror and suffering that comes along with war. The perfect example of this is Pablo Picasso's Guernica. You may have seen this painting in the hallway by the gym across from the girls locker room. You probably read it's complexity and busyness as bizarre and pointless. But, this painting is exactly the opposite. As one of Picasso's most famous works, it makes a major statement about war and the effect it had on so many innocent civilian lives.

     This monumental painting at 11' 5'' by 25' 6'', was named after a small country town in northern Spain. With Spain being Picasso's homeland he was horrified when he heard news of the bombing of this town. This occurred in 1937 during World War 2 and was one of many devastating attacks across the world. When this happened Picasso was already at work on a mural commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 World Fair in Paris, but when news of Guernica reached him he
deserted his original idea and dedicated the mural to the small spanish town.
"My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. In the picture I am painting — which I shall call Guernica — I am expressing my horror of the military caste which is now plundering Spain into an ocean of misery and death." Pablo Picasso
     As the quote above about Guernica suggests, this image was an anti-war statement. This piece shows the devastation, chaos, and horror created by war and the impact it had on men, woman, and children, specifically civilian life. This painting can also be seen as making a statement about the widespread chaotic impact that World War 2 had on the entire world and this painting was created to show this to the people of the world in hopes of minimizing further innocent casualties that the war would create.  In the image several victims are depicted, some dead and the living are seen screaming in agony over the deaths of their families and friends. While serving as an image that reveals the horrors of war it is also seen as a nationalistic image. Despite the surrounding chaos and brutality a resilient image of a bull,still standing, can be seen. This may be the symbol of Spain itself as if it will make it through this and many other tragedies to one day rise again. It gives a somewhat optimistic feeling to an otherwise sorrowful image.