The Influence Of Blessing On The Basque Race

Many reviews and analysis reference psychoanalytic theory as a base to establish definitive meaning of why certain things occur and how they function. Ruthe Stein of San Francisco Gate makes brief yet notable comparisons of Del Toro’s film to Picasso’s Guernica. Picasso’s famous painting named after the city of Guernica that was destroyed in 1937 by Francisco Franco, was a “sacred town of the Basques”. (Russell 1). Frank Russell’s notes in his book Picasso’s “Guernica: The Labyrinth of Narrative and Vision”, how the Basques lived in the mountains and they were “adept at guerilla tactics” (1). Similar, to the rebellions in Del Toro’s Labyrinth that lived within the mountains and forest. Notably, the initial credits of the film stated that the

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.

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.

Picasso painted for himself, as a release from the pressures of his society and as a way to express his thoughts and problems in tangible form. For this reason, the events happening around the time of any Picasso work must be understood before the true meaning of any resulting art can be understood.

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

A Short History of the Basque Country Archaeological and ethnographic findings indicate that Basque [people] evolved from Cro-Magnon [...] in this area over a period dating from about 40,000 years ago until distinct features were acquired approximately 7,000 years ago. Two thousand years later the sheep, not native to these lands, was introduced and horse and cattle farming came into being, as shown by Adolf Staffe. These circumstances made it necessary for the people to travel periodically and cultural contacts were thus made. This period in the history of the Basque people can only make sense if it is studied in conjunction with the cultures of the surrounding areas, in the basin of the River

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

A common Basque saying goes, “before God was God and boulders were boulders, Basques were already Basques.” This saying highlights the Basque’s enduring inhabitance in the mountains between Spain and France. The existence in the Pyrenees is remarkable considering the population’s repeated persecution. The bombing of Guernica is one of the most notorious instances of Basque persecution, which was Pablo Picasso’s inspiration for arguably his most recognizable painting, Guernica. Another period of persecution in the Basque region was the Inquisition during the early seventeenth century. Pierre de Lancre initiated the Inquisition on the French side in 1609, which swiftly spread to Logroño, a region on the Spanish side, by 1610. The Inquisition

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 artwork provokes thought of personal values being impacted by surrounding environment challenging our beliefs of war. The composition of the piece presents distortion, we as the observers are thrown into the midst of seriously brutal action with sharp jagged shapes symbolising discomfort. Similar to Away when Tom illness acts as a catalyst for Gwen’s self-discovery, with finding out Tom was sick with cancer, the traumatic experience leads Gwen to feel empathic towards the people around her. I believe Guernica is a suitable related text for you to use because it references discovery through the whole artwork, viewers like us can see the monochromatic palette, this reflects Picasso initial encounter with the original newspaper report. The textured patterns scattered in objects of the painting creates the illusion of newsprint and symbolises discovery being announced to the world confronting our surrounding environment affecting our initial view of the traumatic

     In 1937, Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, oil on canvas. The Republican Spanish government commissioned the mural for the 1937 World Fair in Paris. Guernica is a large mural, twenty-six feet wide and eleven feet tall, and was placed at the entrance to Spain’s pavilion. Picasso did not do any work after receiving the commission until reading of the bombing of the Basque village of Guernica, in Spain. It was that attack, perpetrated by the German Luftwaffe, that inspired him. Guernica, however, is not a complete depiction of that event. In Guernica, Picasso masterfully conveys the suffering of the Basque people and the tragedy of war. He seeks not to report on every detail of the bombing, but only to

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

Robert Lubar’s essay “Narrating the Nation: Picasso and the Myth of El Greco” discusses the aftermath of the bloody Spanish-American war resulting in “El Desastre del ’98” in Spain which rocked the national psyche into a period of cultural dissonance. Following the Disaster, the nation quickly found itself in an agitated period of conflicting ideas and divisive discourses, specifically between Madrid and Catalonia. Essentially, class divisions, regional differences, and this lack of national identity was what gave way to the “Myth of El Greco” in fin-de-sïecle Spain. Lubar proposes that the ‘myth’ connected tradition and modernity whilst illustrating the middle class’ pursuit to construct hegemony for Catalan cultural nationalism.

“The Tragedy” was one of Picasso’s first works in the Blue Period, depicting many personal meanings and immense emotions. It features a family, with a man, a woman, and a child by the sea. People who observe this painting have been different opinions as they try to make sense of the situation they are in, however, it is clear that there is no happiness, intimacy, nor life in the piece. Picasso had once said about this painting that "What comes out in the end is the result of the discarded finds." (as cited in National Gallery of Art, 2014), signifying that he wanted to reveal the hidden and upsetting truth of poverty in Spain.