Guernica anniversary

80 years on, Picasso's powerful anti-war Guernica still resonates

Exactly 80 years ago, in a crowded market square, the small Basque town of Guernica was bombed by Nazi aircraft at the behest of General Francisco Franco.

Days later Picasso heard about the attack and painted Guernica in a Paris attic, a haunting work of art that has become a universal howl against the ravages of war, from 1937 Spain to 2017 Syria.

The canvas mixes stark images of agonising humans and animals to depict the horror of the bombing of the small Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937 during Spain's civil war.

Luis Ortiz Alfau, a 100-year-old Spaniard, was there that day "to pick up the dead and the injured," he told AFP. "

Around 4:00 pm, three planes started arriving every 15 minutes, they were German and Italian planes," said the former soldier on the Republican side.

"They dropped explosive bombs, then incendiary bombs, and the town started to burn."

War in Syria

To mark the 80th anniversary of one of the most famous paintings in the world, studied by generations of schoolchildren, Madrid's Reina Sofia Museum, where it now hangs, will hold a major exhibition from April 4th.

"Guernica's importance in the collective unconscious is such that I define it as a spiritual work of art, with a constant vocation of promoting peace," Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the Spanish artist's grandson, told AFP.

Rosario Peiro, head of collections at the museum, said Syrians had used images of the painting in their protests. They "were trying to say: 'enough with this war in Syria'."

At the United Nations last year, French Ambassador Francois Delattre compared the destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo to Guernica.

 "Aleppo is to Syria what Guernica was to the Spanish war, a human tragedy, a black hole destroying all we believe in," he said.

'Screaming out'

The Spanish Civil War kicked off nine months before the attack on Guernica when army generals staged a coup against a fledgling left-wing republic.

Led by General Francisco Franco, the nationalist camp had the support of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

The attack on April 26th 1937, which is estimated to have left 150 to 300 dead, was the Nazis' first attempt at terror bombing civilians -- a tactic they would go on to use in World War II.

Two days later, Pablo Picasso, who had lived in France since 1904, saw the first photo reports of the tragedy. On May 1, he started his own Guernica.

On a large canvas more than seven metres (23 feet) wide, he painted deformed figures of women and children writhing in a burning city.

 A broken sword in hand, a dismembered fighter lies with wide open eyes, an impassive bull, a wounded dove and an agonising horse nearby.

"It seems the faces are screaming out," said Takahiro Yoshino, a 20-year-old Japanese tourist contemplating the painting for the first time in the Reina Sofia, which saw 3.6 million visitors last year.

Nearby, Sonia Seco Cacaso had taken her kindergarten class to see Guernica.

"When there is a problem, you have to resolve it and not through war," she told them.

 'All we love will die'

 Black, white and grey, the oil painting was Picasso's response to a commission by Spain's embattled republic for the upcoming World Exhibition in Paris.

When it opened on May 25th, 1937, Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union competed with gigantic pavilions.

Inside Spain's more modest pavilion, Guernica loomed large and was greeted with mixed reviews.

In his memoirs, Jorge Semprun, a Spanish writer who later served as culture minister, remembered that British art critic Anthony Blunt disapproved.

"Picasso belongs to the past," he was quoted as having said. French poet Michel Leiris, though, wrote that the painting was Picasso's "letter of mourning: all we love will die," just as World War II loomed, as did the defeat of the Republicans in Spain's civil war.

Life of exile

In 1939, Franco took power for a 36-year-long dictatorship. Years later, he maintained that "the poor marxists" set fire to Guernica.

The canvas itself started a "life of exile", said Peiro.

From 1937, it was exhibited in Europe and the US to raise money for Spanish refugees.

Then in 1939, Picasso entrusted his masterpiece to New York's Museum of Modern Art, where it stayed more than 40 years.

The painter gave the museum clear instructions - the canvas belonged to the Spanish people and would only be given back "when they have recovered the freedoms that were taken away from them."

Finally in 1981, the painting arrived in Spain, which was transitioning to democracy after the death of Franco. 

It was first put up for show in an annex of the Prado Museum, behind explosion- and bullet-proof glass to protect it from possible harm in a country still struggling to deal with its very recent, dark past, wrote Semprun.

Now at the Reina Sofia, it has become the star attraction.

For Jose Lebrero, the artistic director of the Picasso Museum in his native southern city of Malaga, "it's one of the last major historical paintings - in the line of Courbet or Delacroix - that allows us to remember a very difficult historical event."

 It is a canvas that is particularly poignant "in the strange and worrying political situation we are going through," he added.


Read this other Guernica-related story:

Comments

Montse said…
Hi, Graham and José,
It's been such a long time without writing in this blog that I feel like an intruder doing it. Anyway, I'm glad to see it keeps so alive!!
I knew this sad event of our history, of course, though not deeply. On occasion of the 80th anniversary of its I've had the opportunity to see some documentaries and learn the horror that the inhabitants of Guernica suffered that day and why Picasso felt the need to render it on the canvas which would become in a symbol against the War.
Did you know that UK took thousands of Basque kids in until the civil war ended in Spain to avoided them the horrors of the war? A surviving man told how he felt when he returned to a devastated village directly from a country in peace and had to face the future there. Any children would have to live things like that!!
That happened eighty years ago but the images are the same as in Syria now...
José said…
Hi Montse and Graham



I agree with Montse. This canvas is an important painting in the world, but by what represents it is, perhaps, the most famous canvas in the world. Sadly, it’s remembering every day because always there is some war. Sometimes, I wonder if the human being can live without fighting.



All wars are unfair and all wars cause irremediable ravages to people. The war of Franco was stupid and useless like him. Now, there are a lot of wears in Africa, for instance, and we don’t know about them. I’m always against every war. War is synonymous of failure, all wars are the failure of the human being. There are not fair or good wars, any war is a disaster.



I don't know what we can do to avoid that people suffering. It seems that we can do noting. Only you might imagine that too much people die by war. Only I may say that all wars are the worst.



See you.
Graham said…
Hi Montse,

The blog keeps alive mainly thanks to José.

I normally give up on things but I somehow managed to keep on with the blog.


I know about this sad event in our history, of course, though not deeply. On occasion of the 80th anniversary of it happening, I had the opportunity to see some documentaries and learn about the horror that the inhabitants of Guernica suffered that day and why Picasso felt the need to render it on canvas which would become a symbol against war.

Did you know that UK took thousands of Basque kids in until the civil war ended in Spain to avoid them the horrors of the war? A surviving man told how he felt when he returned to a devastated village directly from a country at peace and had to face the future there. No child should have to experience things like that!!
That happened eighty years ago but the images are the same as in Syria now...


Graham said…
Hi José,

I'd better get a move on and reply to last week's comment, before you send me your comment tonight.

Unlike you, I'm not a pacifist. Wars, in my opinion, are sometimes justified.



This canvas is an important painting in the world, but because of what it represents, it is, perhaps, the most famous canvas in the world. Sadly, we are reminded of it every day because there is always some war somewhere in the world. Sometimes, I wonder if the human being can live without fighting.

All wars are unfair and all wars cause irreparable harm to people. The war of Franco was stupid and useless like him. Now, there are a lot of wars in Africa, for instance, and we don’t know about them. I’m always against every war. War is synonymous of failure, all wars are the failure of the human being. There are not fair or good wars, any war is a disaster.

I don't know what we can do to avoid people suffering. It seems that we can do nothing. Only you might imagine that too many people die because of war. I may say that all wars are the worst.

Anonymous said…
Hi, Graham, I wanted to write about this painting because it is very attractive to an art historian like me. The post it’s interesting, but I think that the journalist forgets importance aspects of this masterpiece. Specially all related with the symbolism of the picture. The short description is good, but the author forgets the deep meaning of the images, especially the bull and the horse. In fact, there is an old controversy about its meaning. Beside Picasso did not clarify the real meaning of these animals in the picture. Some experts say that the bull means fascist violence, while the horse would stand for the Spanish people. Others scholars give an opposite explanation.

On the other hand, this painting refers to a concrete historical fact: the Spanish civil war; but is also a symbol of the human wickedness or the consequence of the war. I consider very accurate to remember the Syrian war with this painting.

It’s truth that Picasso trusted the Guernica to the MoMA of New York (where hanged for decades), until the democracy returned to Spain. But we have to remember that the Spanish painter said in his will that the canvas should be part of the Prado Museum collection. So, why the painting is in the Reina Sofía Museum today? Because the politicians decided give to this museum more visibility with one masterpiece like this. So, what about with the will of Picasso? Well, he’s dead, isn’t he? On the other hand, their descendants don’t have inconveniences at all.
José Luis professor
Graham said…
Hi José Luis,

I don't know much about Picasso, the man. I guess he was a womaniser and he had a ferocious temper. He certainly came across as a thoroughly unpleasant character.

I suppose he has some descendants. They must have given permission for the Guernica to go to the Reina Sofia.



I wanted to write about this painting because it really appeals to an art historian like me. The post is interesting, but I think that the journalist forgets importance aspects of this masterpiece, epecially all that is related to the symbolism of the picture. The short description is accurate, but the author fails to mention the deep meaning of the images, especially the bull and the horse. In fact, there is an old controversy about its meaning. Besides Picasso did not clarify the real meaning of these animals in the picture. Some experts say that the bull means fascist violence, while the horse would stand for the Spanish people. Other scholars give the opposite explanation.

On the other hand, this painting refers to a concrete historical fact: the Spanish civil war; but it is also a symbol of human wickedness or the consequence of the war. I would say that this painting reminds us of the Syrian war.

The truth is that Picasso entrusted the Guernica to the MoMA of New York (where it hanged for decades), until democracy returned to Spain. But we have to remember that the Spanish painter said in his will that the canvas should be part of the Prado Museum collection. So, why is the painting in the Reina Sofía Museum today? Because politicians decided to give this museum more visibility with a masterpiece like this. So, what about Picasso's will? Well, he’s dead, isn’t he? On the other hand, his descendants don’t have inconveniences at all.