Picasso's masterpiece Guernica, 1937,is modern art's most powerful statement against war. It is an artwork that is strongly linked to the time and social circumstances it was painted in. The artist expresses the vital need for universal peace so explicitly that its political statement cannot be ignored.
Picasso's inspiration for Guernica was triggered by an important event in the world at that time. Picassos homeland, Spain, was experiencing brutal civil war. Republican forces were under attack from a fascist group led by Genralissimo Francisco Franco. From the outbreak of civil war, Picasso was on the side of the legitimate Republican government and in January 1937 the government commissioned him to paint a mural for the Spanish pavilion at the Paris world Fair. Initially Picasso intended to paint a representation of the freedom of art, using a studio scene with painter and model. However when news of the bombing of the holy Basque town, Guernica, reached Picasso his ideas for the mural took a dramatic turn. On the 26th of April the town of Guernica was totally destroyed in just three and a half hours by Falangist forces and Spanish, Italian and German troops, under German command. The town was of no military importance and its destruction was an act of pure terrorism. The horrific devastation of the event became rapidly significant throughout the world. "Picasso was stunned by the stark black and white photographs, appalled and enraged he ran back to his studio where he quickly sketched the first images that would become Guernica".
Guernica is a result of a historical event in the world, which had a deep impact on Piacasso and led him to produce this famous masterpiece that depicts the tragedy. However, through the use of symbolism Picasso focused his work on the terror, devastation and impact of war on innocent civilians. There is no specific depiction of war, nor is there any emphasis on political event of that time.
Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris with great talent. ... Picasso and his wife were on a vacation and in constant conflict. ... In 1934, Picasso returned to his homeland of Spain. ... Picasso joins the Spanish in creating an art showing in 1937. ... Many went to Picasso's studio for stories about Guernica. ...
PABLO PICASSO Pablo Picasso was born in the late evening of October 25, 1881 in the poor town of Malaga, on the southern coast of Spain (Chew 1). ... This new theme of conflict between perfect love and sacred love would appear over and over again in Pablo's art for years to come. ... Pablo Ruiz Picasso died in his bed in France on April 1973. ... (1) It is clear that Pablo Picasso was the most prominent artist of the twentieth century. ... In Fabre's book, Picasso, he describes Pablo's art in that it " always reflects his experiences; it is much more a diary as i...
The attack was due to the conflict in Spain, the Spanish Civil War: an issue of Democracy against Fascism. ... It is Picasso's use of classic, ancient and religious symbols that creates this tone. ... This interpretation of the soldier is particularly suitable to the goal Picasso had in mind. ... Picasso's symbolism does not distinguish itself between animals and people. ... Picasso, himself, said, "The horse repre...
And the view of the mind presented by the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, stipulated that the human psyche, far from being unified, was fraught with emotional conflicts and contradictions. ... This is first seen in the work of Pablo Picasso in the movement he and Georges Braque started called Cubism from around 1908 to 1917. ... This brought us works such as works like the Picasso's "The Demoiselles d'Avignon." ...
Cubism is an art form derived from modernism and said to be invented by Pablo Picasso who invented a new style of painting, focusing mainly on line rather than color. Picassos" art changed radically around 1907, when he decided to incorporate some stylistic elements of African sculpture into his painting. Picassos" Les Demoiselles D"Arignon does violence to the human form by means of radical simplifications, arbitrary and harsh color combinations, and extreme distortions of human anatomy and proportions. ... The merging of these conflicting elements suggests an alternative, or sur-reality,...
Picasso, with whom he exchanged paintings in 1907, must have acted as an additional spur. ... And as if in response to Picasso's challenge, Matisse embarked in 1908 on an annus mirabilis of his own. ... The bands of blue and green evoking sky and grass ought, by rights, to conflict with the exuberant orchestration within. ...
Neruda artfully addresses the emotional conflict of having to let someone go if the love has gone, but also the importance of seizing and cherishing the love if it is there. ... Daniel Chouinard from the January Magazine announces, in his willingness to experiment and change styles repeatedly, and in the way in which these changes released a flood of new work, Neruda resembled no one so much as Picasso. ...
Madox Ford, Gertrude Stein (to name a few) and the invention and creativity of cubism from the studios of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, George's Braque and many others, became an explosion of avante-garde works that foreshadowed a period of contemporary and differential views, which strayed from the au courant society that had been established before. ... Brimming with iconic people from modernistic society, both in the novel and movie, modernist heroes and characters mentioned in Paris from the two texts were: Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Jules Pascin, Hilai...
Artists and sculptures alike wished to focus their attention on things of vital importance to human life with or without the complexities of new technology and conflict which some associated with the modern day world. ... Picasso also could have influenced through his thick geometric lines which he was using on his work at this time which he took from tribal wood carvings from Africa. ...