Julius Byla
Hake
English 101
10/22/17
Picasso’s Guernica Throughout time paintings have been used to record events, communicate ideas or evoke an emotional response. Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica does just this. Guernica was created to bring attention to the Nazi bombing of the town of Guernica, Spain during the Spanish civil war in the second half of the 1930s. Its exhibition was used to provide relief and a call against the horrors of war. Through its visual elements and symbolic concepts, Guernica depicts the chaos and aftermath of the bombing of the city and the need to bring about change over the tragedies of war. Standing at a massive seven feet by twenty-five feet, this black and white painting depicts a massacre of the bombing of the town of Guernica. The composition of the work is a dimly lit space, the only light coming from an eye shaped light at center top of the painting and a woman holding a lantern next to it. From left to right, the scene contains a screaming bull beneath it a woman holding a dead child. In the center there is a mangled horse pierced by spear and below it, the mangled body of a fallen soldier. To the right are three women, one crawling towards the light, above her is a woman leaning out of a window holding a lit lantern and the other screaming while falling from a burning building. Guernica captures the brutal chaos of the bombing with its physical action and intended symbolism. Being black and white, the painting represents the somber
TXT- This image was inspired by the cruelty of the Spanish Civil War, especially the demolition of the town of Guernica by the Germans who bombed them and this was the result of the aftermath in a painting. Pg 257
The artist’s color usage gives the audience a glimpse into the emotions and tone behind the piece. Both pieces are representations of death in response to political issues by focusing on the context of the artwork rather than visual appeal. The explicit images of death in both “Guernica” and “Gin Lane” relate to both work’s lack of color. Picasso’s painting “Guernica” was a reaction piece influenced by the Spanish Civil War. According to the UK’s History Learning Site, German forces bombed the small town of Guernica killing 1,654 civilians and wounding 889.
The painting “Guernica”, a black and white oil painting depicts the chaos that ensued World War II. It was painted by Pablo Picasso in his sharp, shaped style. At first glance, you notice an overwhelming amount of shapes, when looking closer those shapes become faces of despair and distress, which as one could imagine that is what the people of Spain were feeling prior to the bombing that inspired this painting. With odd shapes, and a large, chaos filled canvass, it defiantly puts on display its uncanny ability to attract the viewer into digging into the deeper meaning of this intriguing master piece.
A piece of art is not limited to a painting that captures a representation of imagery. Art is anything that stirs emotions in a person or makes them think, just like Marcel Duchamp accomplished in 1917 with one of his most famous pieces Fountain. Art can be anything that captures and represents the artists emotions, mental state, and personality with every brushstroke, and the usage of colors while also reflecting the mentality, thoughts, and major events that occur in a certain period, such as Picasso’s Guernica. To understand the message that the artist is trying to convey, one must look deeper than what is on the surface of the artwork, which is what I will do with this piece of art, scrutinizing its mysteries as well as its motives.
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.
To complete Guernica, Picasso bounces of ideas from Goya's “The 3rd of May.” In Picasso painting there lies dead soldier has a stigmata on his hand that is a representation of the crucifixion. This refers back to Goya's main focus, the prisoner in white. This prisoner is being illuminated by the only source of artificial light present in the painting. With his arms raised it seem as once a plea for mercy, and a mirror image of the crucifixion. This is an evocation of christ's agony on the cross, which refers back to the stigmata present in Picasso's Guernica. Guernica was indeed one of Picasso’s greatest creations.
Another powerful and political piece of art is Picaso's Guernica. Painted after the bombing of the Basque town of the same name, Guernica reveals the horrors of war, and the anguish and chaos that war creates. The piece demonstrates how art can open our eyes to the cruelty of the world. Allison writes, “art should provoke more questions than answers and, most of all, should make us think about what we rarely want to think about at
The piece constitutes a universal indictment of war without including objects that are directly associated with modern warfare by showing an abstract of different objects that portray the individuals that were bombed. In the left of the image is a bull; in Spain bullfighting
Edgar Allan Poe is an American poet from the early 1800s who has been regarded in many literary handbooks as “the architect of the modern short story” (Poetry Foundation). Since his death in 1849, Poe has become world renowned for his critical theories as well as his many haunting poems and short stories. But Poe 's work hasn’t always been as popular as it is today. In 1827, Poe published his first collection of poetry, Tamerlane, and Other Poems. Unfortunately, Poe’s first collection was unsuccessful and went virtually unnoticed by the public. Two years later, Poe published a second collection of poetry, which he titled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Although this collection received slightly more attention than his first publication, it was still unsuccessful and seen as a failure. Poe’s third publication was released in 1831 and was yet another collection of poetry, ironically entitled Poems. This publication was significantly more successful than its predecessors, and in 1835 its success even landed Poe an editorship at The Southern Literary Messenger, a literary magazine based in Richmond, Virginia. Only a few years later, in 1839, Poe got a job as an editor for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. He stayed with the magazine for about a year before accepting another position in 1841 as the editor of Graham’s Magazine. This was the peak of Poe’s
The first is a human skull superimposed on the body of the horse. Second, is a bull goring the horse from below. The head of the bull is formed largely by the front leg of the horse, which has its knee on the ground. The knee cap of the horse makes up the bull’s nose, and the bull’s horn jabs at the horse’s breast. Underneath the horse lies a dead mutilated soldier, the hand of his severed arm still grasping a broken sword, from which a flower springs up. Also In the open palm of the dead soldier is a stigmata, symbolic of the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. The lantern and light bulb on the ceiling in the room is another interesting feature of the painting. The light bulb is surrounded by rays, which makes it look like the sun. The sun is the ultimate sign of life, and none of us can survive without the sun. The bulb can also be associated with the Spanish word for lightbulb, “bombilla”. This brings to mind the word “bomb”, which could symbolize the l impact of the bombing on humanity. The light bulb represents life, but also the death brought by the bombs that fell on Guernica. There are open doors at the very right of the painting as well as windows. The door appears to lead to a possible way to escape the terror within. Although the door is open now, it shows how easily that door could be shut and how easily escape could be cut off. The windows show that if something is not done to end the brutality of things
After the bombing on Guernica, the Basque people have nothing left. Their houses were burned, their families were killed, and their culture was crashed. However, by looking at Picasso's mural, we can see that despite grief and pain, the Basques still have a little hope left in them. Despite the irresponsibility from the government, the Basque race still managed to survive from this terrible tragedy. Last but not least, Picasso wants the world to give its blessings to these unfortunate people, because them too, are seeking for hope and blessings for the survival of the Basques race.
Picasso’s “Guernica” helped change our view on how the atrocities of war from unjust reasoning effect society. For instance, by using larger than average size for a painting at the time and since his work still to this day inspires deep thought. The year was 1937 and the World’s Fair had just requested Pablo Picasso a highly skillful and renowned artist to commission an antiwar painting that depicted the bombing and senseless deaths of two thousand citizens in Guernica, Spain. Picasso accepted their offer and immediately began creating hundreds of rough drafts depicting the small town in Spain he loved so much. Later that same year at the World’s Fair in Paris, France Guernica’s enormous size of eleven feet tall by twenty feet wide immersed
“Guernica” is one of the most well-known paintings in the world. It was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1937. The painting itself measures 11ftx 26.5ft. “Guernica” depicts the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. The whole thing is done in a cubist style not surprising since Picasso is known for his cubism. In the painting there are people and animals alike all of them in pain and or suffering. “Guernica” is also filled with symbolism that Picasso incorporated into it, and hidden messages. The painting is also colorless it only uses black, white and, gray.
Scientists argue over whether nature or nurture is responsible for each individual's success. Any person with obstacles regarding nature and or nurture should not be a stop sign for them to not be even more successful in life. How far a person goes in life is their responsibility, and their motivation, not whether somebody else tells them they can’t do something because of a specific reason or they are held accountable they have to do something.
If you were told by three witches that you were to become the next ruler of an entire country, what would you do to ensure that it happens? In the novel Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, a story told about Scotland and its nobles against Macbeth and his horrid ways. What Macbeth did was drastic and evil compared to what a normal person would do. The wife of Macbeth played a few large parts in Macbeth’s downfall. While Lady Macbeth helped him gain power, Macduff was working on taking it away. Without thinking, the sons of King Duncan fled Scotland leaving all the power to Macbeth. The desire for power is the fuel that drives Macbeth; it drives him to destroy his relationships and turn everyone he loves against him. Macbeth had taken the throne ruthlessly, but when all of Scotland and England turned against him that power was no use.