Analysis Of Pablo Picasso's Guernica

How does Pablo Picasso’s famous art “Guernica’ represents the history and society in his time?

In 1936 the Spanish government commissioned Picasso to paint a feature piece for their international exposition in Paris at the peak of World War II. Picasso was unsure of what to paint until in 1937 when Nazi warplanes bombed the Spanish town of

Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris in the year 1900 at the age of just 19, and within a few years he became a well-known artist and a dominating figure in the world of modern art movement. The one piece of art that he produced in 1906 through 1907 was the Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and would change the word of art forever. This became the piece art that helped launch Cubism and a whole new artistic expression. Because of this art and many other, Pablo Picasso has become one of the most important figure of 20th century, in terms of art, and art movements that occurred over this period. This Spanish born artist had a distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world. Although his art career spanned over a 7 decade period, Pablo Picasso

In the video “The Power of Art – Picasso,” the life and art of the Famous Artist Pablo Picasso is explained and the specifically his piece, Guernica, is focused on. This video starts off by giving the viewer background about who Picasso was and his early life. Next, the political events of his time are explained. Lastly, the influences for his Painting Guernica is explained and the painting itself is described and clarified. I have always heard a lot about Picasso and seen him mentioned everywhere, but I never learned much about him or his artwork so I was very interested in watching this video about him. After watching this, I have gained a lot of respect and appreciation for the artist, Pablo Picasso and his work.

Picasso's innovations expanded our minds and actually went to the art. His work has influenced many art and research not only in the art world, but also influenced the sculpture, architecture and music. The CUBIST movement revolutionized many of the world's features. This has provoked a new thinking process, which leads to a new style and deep in the sense. It changed the way to see the world. Picasso's Cubism is trusted as the greatest break in the art history since the Renaissance revolution. The Picasso artist's "rules" gave to the people. His analytical cubism transformed the paintings from a single perspective to many perspectives and broke geometric shapes. His later cubism, Synthetic Cubism it’s developed by use of daily

Pablo Picasso was one of the brightest artist for his time and he has been credited with influencing many of the different directions that art went in the twentieth century. Picasso was said to influence styles of art like surrealism and co-invent cubism and not unlike artists before him, he drew inspiration from the great people of the time such as Freud or artists like Cézanne. Picasso was unique in the fact that his paintings represented what he wanted them to represent and through the freedom of interpretation, Picasso was able to influence those who saw his works. Picasso was such a different painter in his time because instead of focusing on the details and trying to make things perfectly realistic, he painted with a sort of freedom

“In Cubism paintings, objects are broken apart and reassembled in an abstracted form, highlighting their composite geometric shapes and depicting them from multiple, simultaneous viewpoints in order to create physics defying, collage- like effects” (Biography.com Editors). This innovative art form was very diverse from any other and he was able to create an unseen theme resulting in the new style, Cubism. As said in this article, “Pablo Picasso is most known for instruction of cubism, and modern approach to painting. Which set forth the movements to follow in the twentieth century” (Pablo Picasso and His Paintings). They were two different forms of cubism that were created, analytical and collage, by Picasso and Baroque. Each type focused on the composition of different ideas combined into one piece of artwork. Analytical, the first form of cubism, was the breaking down but put together form of Pablo’s new art style (Pablo Picasso). An example of this division of art would be “Break and Fruit Dish on a Table”, which shows the new perspective being shown with the fruit dish. The simplicity of the geometrical shapes coming together to form a complex image was repeatedly the case for analytical

Guernica is monochromatic to make its imagery more powerful. Lack of color keeps the viewer focused on the subject matter at hand, as well as keeping the mural cold, which agrees with its general theme of injustice in war. Also, Picasso’s flat imagery does not distract the viewer from concentrating on imagery. The viewer is given no other choice than to concentrate on the subject matter of Guernica and ponder it’s meaning. The flat, grayscale images generalize the imagery and contribute to the general theme of unnecessary suffering and tragedy.

A large mural, Guernica is an example of Synthetic Cubism painted by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Created using the medium of oil paint on canvas with a narrow palette consisting of the neutral hues: white, grey and black; the formalist qualities of Guernica can have harrowing effects on the spectator, “But to see it in real life, in its full size, is an even stronger emotional experience. Some people have said they experienced an instant rush of many powerful, fearful emotions” (The Open University, 2016, Block 3, 2.2.2).

The word art is an encompassing one, vastly interpreted and with multiple definitions. In the case of Picasso's painting Guernica, art informs, educates and expresses. Its power lies in its ability to capture and compel an audience nearly six decades after the modern world's "other" day of infamy. To understand fully the painting that evolved out of the Spanish painter's outrage, one must know its context. "Why do you think I date everything I do? Because it is not sufficient to know an artist's works--it is also necessary to know when he did them, why, under what circumstances" (Picasso). An appreciator who knows the saga of Spain's historical fishing village is given a depth of experience that only a genius like

Hitler supported Franco but artist like Picasso and Dahli supported the republicans. Then in 1937 a small city in Spain named Guernica was bombed and it caused it stir amongst artists. As a result of the bombing Picasso created his oil painting, Guernica, in 1937. This painting was a representation of what Picasso was probably reading in the newspaper while in Paris. Its monochromatic, black and white color scheme can be compared to a newspaper. The viewer can read the painter from left to right or vice versa. The painting uses symbolism like the bull to represent Spain and the horse falling apart represents dismemberment. Picasso depicts the horrors of the event as people flee from a burning building and a mother holding on to her dead child screams in agony. What made this piece important was Piccaso’s use of his cubist style to voice his political opinion. He made it clear which side he was on and the discontent he held for the misfortune his home faced. The painting was put on tour as a fundraising event that only charged a pair of boots for entry. These boots were then sent to republican soldiers. This was something Pablo Picasso had never done before making this work

For this project I will be going over the medium for Guernica by Pablo Picasso. The medium means the tools and paints used to create the artwork for this particular piece, it also has to do with the technique on how to construct this painting. But first, let me give you a little background of this symbolic painting. Pablo Picasso created this painting in reaction to the aerial bombing over Guernica, Spain by German and Italian forces during the Spanish Civil War back in 1937. After this tragedy, the Spanish Republic asked Picasso to paint a large mural about the bombing for display at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. Guernica was painted in remembrance to show the catastrophe of war as well as the anguish and destruction it inflicted on the people of Spain, especially the innocent civilians. The encompassing scenario is set within a room where, in an empty part on the left, a wide eyed bull looms above a woman grieving for a dead child she is holding. The middle of the painting shows a falling over in pain, having been pierced by a spear or lance. One of the focal points of this piece is the gaping wound in the side of the horse After it was completed, Guernica was exhibited to the world during a limited tour, receiving large amounts of recognition and becoming quite famous. This power piece obtain much exposure bring the Spanish Civil War to the world’s awareness. The colors for the painting are black, white, and grey. It is also done with oil paints on an eleven feet tall

The transition between the 19th and 20th century has brought further development of modernistic ideas, concepts and techniques in art. Inspired by Cezanne’s idea, saying that all nature objects can be illustrated with just three geometrical figures: cube, sphere and cone, Pablo Picasso created his first paintings, which became the icons of modern art and cubism movement in

Picasso used several principle and element of art while painting “Guernica”. Some of the elements include value, line, shape, color and, space.

Picasso's most well known painting of this time is from 1937, called Guernica. (Grolier). In the last two decades of his life, Picasso became intrigued by earlier art. He based several paintings on works painters of the 1600's such as Rembrandt and Diego Velazquez, and the French artists of the 1800's, such as Delacroix and Manet. Picasso tried to break down their work, recompose it, and became even bolder in his methods and styles of painting (World Book).