I would like to talk about Gernika, a painting that was painted by Pablo Ruiz Picasso in 1937.
The artist painted this canvas to be exhibited in the Spanish Republican pavilion together with other masterpieces created by Joan Miró and Alexander Calder among other artists.
It’s important to say that in 1936 began the Civil war in Spain and, moreover, in Europe the Second War was about to start.
The theme of this painting is the horror of the war. Picasso chose Gernika, a little town in Euskadi that was bombed by German and Italian army, to show the disasters that the war can produce.
It’s important to highlight that this painting is not only one painting that shows the Civil war, this painting has become a symbol of the brutality in all wars.
The painting can be divided in three parts. In the centre of the canvas, we can see a lamp, that could represent the technology with its lights and shadows because it can help us but also can destroy us. There is an injured horse as well, we can appreciate a lance and a wound. This horse could represent the horses that are used in the “corridas”. They are collateral damage. And finally, in this part, we can see, on the floor, the arm of a warrior with his broken sword.
On the left of the canvas, we see, at the top, a bull. It represents Spain, although it could be the symbol of the fascism brutality as well. It has a contemplative attitude and, in fact, this is surprising because all of the other figures are suffering. Next to the bull, there is an injured pigeon. This figure is almost invisible and maybe this is because Picasso wanted to show that even the symbol of peace was in serious danger. In the middle of this part of the canvas we can see a woman crying and screaming because her kid has died. To be honest, for me this is the main expression of the pain that we can see. On the other hand, we could connect this image with Miquelangelo’s sculpture “la Pieta”.
In the right part, on the top, we can see a woman that is going into the scene through a window. She has an oil lamp in her hand and is lighting up the space. Some experts say that this figure could be the humanity that wants show us the disaster. Under this figure, we have another woman. She is in danger inside a burning building. It might be the unique reference to the bombing. At the bottom, we can see the last woman in the picture. Maybe she was injured because she puts his hand on one of her legs. She represents the population. I’m absolutely sure that now you are thinking about the Syrian war and the refugees.
Finally, I think that Picasso had a little bit of expectation about the human being, because he painted a flower where there had been a broken sword.