Guernica
Throughout this paper I will be analyzing the work of Pablo Picasso more specifically focusing on his most famous painting entitled, Guernica. It is important, in order to understand the painting, to take into account the time period it was painted in, what influenced it’s creation and the techniques used in the painting itself. When analyzing a painting it is also important to examine the history of the painter – Pablo Picasso – and where he’s is from, what his specialties and periods were and how he came to be a renowned artist.
Pablo Picasso was born in Spain on October 25, 1881 and died on April 8, 1973. Picasso showed a passion for art almost before he could walk. At the young age of seven his skill began to grow at a rapid rate. His father – also a painter – was able to have great influence on his son’s talent and became one of his greatest teachers. As his talent excelled he decided to take his education to the next level by attending the Academy of Arts in Madrid. Picasso was a well-rounded artist and specialized in the fields of: painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics.
Pablo Picasso painted Guernica in 1937; it was painted using oil on canvas. The mural was for the 1937 world fair in Paris. The mural was commissioned by request of The Republican Spanish Government. It is a large mural, twenty-six feet wide and eleven feet tall. Within the painting Picasso conveys the suffering of the Basque people and the tragedy of war. It is currently located in Madrid at the Museo Sofia Reina. The Guernica is said to be arguably one of Picasso’s greatest and most memorable works. The painting is titled. “Guernica” because the first aerial bombardment of a civilian population in Spain during the Spanish Civil War occurred in the small Basque village of Guernica. Picasso expressed his emotion about the aerial bombardment through his mural. Because he did not want to do a recreation of the event through his work Picasso chose to do...
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