Analysis of Picassos Guernica Essay -- Paintings Artists Pablo Picass

Analysis of Picasso's Guernica Picasso’s Guernica is one of the most powerful and disturbing anti-war paintings ever produced. I have always admired Picasso’s works and wanted to write a dissertation on some aspects of his work. I first saw his Guernica as a poster in my History of Art room. I was fascinated by it and wanted to find out more about its background. I then went to Madrid and saw this vast painting in the Rene Sofia Museum. Its scale and disruptiveness intrigued me to study this painting in depth. I will look at a short background to the Spanish Civil War and why it happened and how it destroyed the Basque town Guernica and everyone living in it. Then I will look at and study PicassoÂ’s reaction to the bombing and how his famous anti-war painting came about. Then I will look at the contemporary reactions to Guernica and how it still affects people alive today. Section 1: The Spanish Civil War This is the background, the context, which informed Picasso, a Catalan in voluntary exile in Paris, and led to the painting of Guernica, which will be discussed in the following sections. Between 1936 and 1939 over 500,000 people were killed in the Spanish Civil War. The depression of the 1930s hit Spain hard. Unemployment rose and Rivera 1* did not have the ability to sort out Spain’s financial mess. The army withdrew its support and Rivera had to resign. In April 1931, elections were held in Spain, which resulted in Republicans winning all the major cities in Spain. Alfonso 2* decided to abdicate, as he feared that if he stayed on, Spain would plummet into chaos. Those victorious at the election then declared Spain a Republic and the monarchy was abolished. The new Republic immediately faced a number of major problems, some of which concerned two important regions in Spain, Catalonia and the Basque region, who wanted independence. Had their requests been successful, it would have lead to the break-up of Spain. The government also believed that the army had too much say in politics and determined to reduce its influence. Spain was primarily an agricultural nation and the 1930s Depression had hit prices for crops. Prime exports such as olive oil and wine fell in value and previously used agricultural land fell into disuse. The little industry that Spain had was also hit by the Depression. Iron and stee... ... Spanish Civil War. In this opinion at least one of the intentions of the painting – to have a propagandist function – has been successfully fulfilled. When I first saw a reproduction of Guernica I had no idea about its contents and the civil war that inspired its iconography. As a result of my research for this dissertation I have learnt so much more about nationality, the context of the war, and, of course Picasso’s deep feelings as a Catalan. I only really knew about Picasso from his Cubist works but now I have discovered a different side of Picasso which I had never learnt about before. Bibliography Books. Picasso – Timothy Hilton A Picasso Anthology – Edited by Marilyn McCully Picasso’s War – Russell Martin Picasso – Ingo F. Walther The Shock of the New – Robert Hughes Picasso – Lorraine Levy Pablo Picasso, A modern Master – Richard Leslie Guernica – Paloma Esteban Leal Paper Museum – Andrew Graham-Dixon The Story of Modern Art – Norbert Lynton Visual Arts in the 20th Century – Edward Lucie-Smith. Newspapers and magazines. The Times March 3 1999 The Times April 28 1937 Web sites. www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk