The color of this piece
intensifies the drama, as it is only blue, black, and white. It is full of
abstract lines and abstract faces, and many different forms of value. It is
interesting how all of the faces within the piece are either whites or light
greys, while most of the background is darker shades of greys and blacks. This
helps make the faces pop more and not get buried in the abstract design of the piece.
There is also an overdose of movement within the piece. There are faces at all
angles, meaning there are eyes looking at all angles. For me personally, I know
that I tend to look wherever a face in a piece of artwork is looking, so since
there are so many faces and sets of eyes, I found myself looking all over the
piece, scanning everything quickly before looking at the individual aspects of
the piece.
This
work is a mural-size canvas painted in oil, and the discarding of color
intensifies the drama as I stated above, which produces a reportage quality as
in a photographic record. The rampaging bull in the top left of the piece is a
motif of destruction, while the horse is meant to represent the people
Guernica. This may be confusing as first, since there are different faces
featured within the piece, so you would think the faces are what represent the
people. This is the case, but the horse being compared to the bull also makes
sense, since the bull is the devastating force of destruction, while a horse is
a more peaceful, innocent creature. This shows how the people of Guernica were
affected by numerous tragedies of the war.
Picasso painted this piece as an immediate reaction to
the Nazi’s devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica
during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. This piece shows the suffering that the
war inflicted on innocent civilians and became a perpetual reminder of the
tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. As talked
about above, the horse and bull are a contradiction to one another, but are two
important characters within the piece as they represent the opposite of
meanings. The left side of the piece shows a woman who is crying out as she is
holding her child who was killed. The other depictions of humans in this piece
are a dead soldier laying on the ground, a woman holding a lamp and leaning
through a window, as if to see what was going on in the world outside of her
home, a woman on the right side who is rushing into the center of the piece as
if to save someone, and another woman on the ride side who is wailing her hands
in the air while her house burns down. All of these depictions are symbols of
what happened during the war and bombing practices.
I
think that all of the human beings within the piece provoke the most emotional
response. They also convey a persuasive image in my mind, since they are
portraying real life events. The images represent an undeniable form of
brutality and darkness. Even decades later, this piece still touches home with
many people who were very innocently murdered due to the Nazi bombings and
WWII. In particular, this hit Picasso hard when hearing about what had happened
to his country of origin. Once you understand all that is going on within this
piece, you cannot deny that it is a potent symbol of the destruction of war on
innocent lives.
It is very difficult to critique
Picasso’s work because he is such a genius with his art. I think the biggest
strengths in this piece are what the people in the photos are depicting. The
messages that he conveys in this piece are eye-opening and a difficult reminder
of what happened during 1937. There is so much movement going on in this piece,
which also helps portray the fact that there was complete chaos during this
time. This is another strength of Picasso. As for a weakness, the only thing I
can’t seem to understand within this piece is the light that is hanging at the
top of the piece and the scroll that is held in someone’s hand at the bottom of
the piece. There does not seem to be any unity with these two images, although
I am sure there is, since Picasso never paints something just to paint it,
there is always a meaning. I have tried to determine what these symbols mean
and represent, but cannot seem to find the answer. I wish this was more
obvious, although almost nothing Picasso does is obvious. The only obvious
thing within this photo is a sense of chaos, pain and suffering. Everything
ties together at the end when learning about why it was created and what it
relates to.
References:
Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 4,
2016, from,
Guernica. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 4, 2016, from,
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