The Art of War: Goya and Picasso Essay

Most of his creations represent history and society of his time. But “Guernica,” which Picasso painted in response to tragedy and the loss of life, directly related to the Spanish civil-war. “Guernica” was one of the masterpieces created by Picasso, probably the 20th century 's most negative symbol of the horrors. It was a also signal for the terrors of the future. When the Nazi troops dropped a bomb on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain, at that time nobody imagined this kind of act in reality. Most

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 painting 2 de Mayo de (1808) is a scene where citizens of Madrid are rebelling against the French soldiers. The image showed a chaos action where people are killing each other. There are lots of tension in the painting, however, by the beautiful color combination and over all composition, Goya lead our eyes around the image creating harmony. Moreover, Goya painted the figures in the image differently; they had a more three-dimension and round looking. Followed by the 2 de Mayo de, He painted El tres de mayo de (1808) where the main action in the painting focus on the emotions in the horror of war. In this painting, Goya successfully expressed rage and fear, and the painting is acknowledged as the first painting in modern era. The white color on the man’s shirt emphasis the focal point and indicates the pure and innocent of a citizen and also showed the brave side of a man who protects others. Goya’s painting had become iconic symbols for the violence of France to the

The painting The Third of May, by Francisco de Goya, was done to commemorate the events of that took place during the Napoleonic Wars in Madrid, Spain on May 2 and 3 1808. The painting sets the scene of a man about to be killed by a firing squad. The bodies of those who have already been killed are scattered around him, and those that wait to be killed stand in line behind him. The

Francisco De Goya was born on March 30 about 1746 in Fuentes de todos, Spain. He studied painting from age 14. He became a court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786 and the early portion of his career. Goya was considered one of the most crucial Spanish artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Francisco married Josefa Bayeu y Subías.The couple had only one child; he received the name of Xavier. One of the most recognized paintings was the Third of May in 1808. “The third of May, is one of the greatest testament to the honors of the war ever painted” (Discovering the humanities page. 405) The oil canvas painting is shocking since it shows a terrible moment in the Spanish war versus French army. The French army invaded the Spanish, putting them in a line and they started to shoot, not asking questions just shooting.This painting is very controversial, because in the picture the very first thing that we can see are the terrifying faces of the Spanish moreover, the face of monk asking for marcy is symbolic because a monk in the hispanic culture mean church, religion and seeing him in his knees is unrespefull. Second, the symbolic lamb that is in the middle can reflect faith for Spanish in the moment. the fellow in the middle is calling all attention in the painting with the light on him with the white shirt and yellow pants and his terrifying gestures. Lastly, the french soldiers who are ready to kill the Spanish

These works were the exact opposite of his earlier works, which were of a larger scale, utilized color, and were meant for a client. Instead, The Disasters of War were prints, made for easy disbursement on small pieces of paper (Figure 2). This sudden shift in artistic style can be attributed to several changes in the artist’s personal life and the political atmosphere surrounding him. During the time period in which these prints were made, between the years of 1810-1812, Napoleon had invaded Spain, and brought with him war and destruction (“Goya Prado Tour”). With the warfare came the actual practice of Enlightenment ideals.

The Germans needed to see how efficient their bombs were, and if they could take out whole towns. Unfortunately, the Nazis were successful. Picasso decided to paint the mural in honor of those who were killed in Guernica. Picasso chose to keep the painting in white and grey. In the painting, Picasso has animals and people.

Fourthly, repeating the existence of soldiers in the painting creates rhythm, and it leads to movement. Movement is created by the tendency which soldiers are getting more and more transparent at the back. You can actually imagine there is still countless amount of solders coming to join their crew and posting the same ‘ready-to-murder’

Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter and printmaker, especially known for his works depicting and commenting on the horrors of the French Occupation of Spain during the Peninsular War, in the early 1800’s. ‘The Third of May’, an oil on canvas painting created in 1814 by Goya, illustrates the mass executions of innocent Spanish civilians, in response to the uprising of civilians against the French military the previous day. ‘Saturn Devouring his son’, another oil on canvas masterpiece by Goya, depicts the mythological, gruesome figure of the god Saturn, who, based upon the fear of a prophecy, ate each one of his own children.

Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and co-founder of the Cubist movement, was a participant in Europe’s political discourse during most of the early 1900s. Picasso’s Guernica, one of his most powerful political statements, was painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi’s casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Guernica, a mural-size canvas painted in blue, black, and white oil, shows tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. Picasso depicts turmoil, people and animals suffering, with building in disarray torn apart by violence and mayhem. With Guernica, Picasso establishes his identity and his strength as an artist when confronted with political authority and intolerable violence, especially in his native land. Interpretations of the symbolism of Guernica

Goya made a series of etchings and paintings depicting the atrocities of both sides involved with the war. The most famous of these paintings are the two depicting the scenes from the second and third of May. The work focuses on the victims of the situation, which in this case are the Spanish citizens being executed. The work is not meant to be beautiful, but is instead supposed to be horrible in order to shock the viewer. Goya's purpose within the painting is less to blame the French, but instead to point out to people the "faceless and mechanical forces of war itself, blindly killing a representative of humanity"(Stokstad). He used the incident as an example of how horrible war is and what can happen when violence is instituted.

war. He conveys war in its most brutal form giving the soldiers a machine like quality.

Prior to the bombing of Guernica, Picasso was in the process of creating another piece of art for the Paris Exhibition, but after hearing the horrific news about the bombing of Guernica, Picasso changed his course, and started working on a new mural titled “Guernica.” Guernica was ordered by the Republic of Spain. Picasso’s painting demonstrates his interpretation of the

Preceding Goya in the line of Spanish painters was “…Velázquez, painter of Spain’s worldly pride and power, of the pomp and panoply of that brief moment in the 17th Century when the nation stood boldly, if insecurely, at the center of the historical stage,” (Schickel 7). Velázquez’s great works such as Las Meninas and The Surrender of Breda show a grandeur and sophistication of the Spanish nobility as well as “preparations…not only to end the war, but also to initiate the peace that follows,” (Velazquez). Unfortunately, even a century before Goya would truly begin the height of his artistic journey, “shadows lie across most of [Velazquez’s] canvases, as if Velázquez sensed what his sitters did not – that the tide had turned against Spain,” (Schickel 7). By the time Goya began creating works the public of today recognize, any veil of peace his predecessor clung to was stripped away, leaving Goya to depict the truth of Spain’s precarious political situation and the reality of the human

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