Cubism: Carol Lau talks on Picasso's Guernica,1937.

Artist: Pablo Picasso

Title: Guernica

Year: 1937

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 349 cm × 776 cm

Background of the artwork

Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. It was fiercely bombed in the Spanish civil war on 26 April 1937 by the German and Italian warplanes. This tragic event inspired Picasso to draw this chaotic scene of the bombing to show the pain and desperation brought by the war.

How to link to the style

This work clearly shows the features of Cubism. First, the background and figures are interlocked together. Things, including human and animals are broken up into fragments. It also adopted multiple viewpoints, showing many sides of an item at the same time. For example, we can see different sides of the horse’s body in the middle. Things are drawn in geomantic angular shape, such as the fire on the right hand side which is painted as triangles. Overall speaking, everything is unrealistic, flat and solid. It is hard for us to get what exactly those things are.

Work Analysis

The color is black and white and grey. Perhaps this is because at that time newspapers and video were colorless, so Picasso drew Guernica in black and white as a response to the war happening at that time. I think without saturation the work can also bring us a sense of sadness and distress.  

Looking deeper into the work, we can see suffering people and animals, they are shouting, screaming and running. A woman on the left is crying and holding her dead son. A soldier is lying on the floor with a broken blame and obviously he was killed in the war. In the middle there is a horse with bleeding wound. On the top there is a light bulb, look like an evil eye, and it is representing the warplanes which dropped bombs to Guernica. There is a woman with a candle floating into the house which symbolizes hope was brought in the darkness. The dove on the wall traditionally represents peace. Definitely the work depicts the chaotic scene of the war but why is this so famous?

Artist particular point of view, feeling, why this become an particular object

Guernica is a symbol of anti-fascism. Because at that time people thought that individual should devote themselves to the country. War can make the states become stronger so no one doubt about the necessity of war. However, Guernica reminds us war kills thousands of innocent citizens and brings suffering and death to every individual. Guernica conveys a message of anti-war and advocates world peace.

Questions

1.      Why did he include a bull in the picture?

2.      Why did Picasso draw some people facing the left hand side and some facing upwards, what are the significant effects of this arrangement?

References

1. Preston, Paul (2012) The Destruction of Guernica. HarperCollins At Google Books. Retrieved 18 July 2013.

2. Ray, B. B. (2006). Analyzing political art to get at historical fact: Guernica and the Spanish Civil War. The Social Studies, 97(4). 168 – 171

3. Becht-Jördens, Gereon, Wehmeier, Peter M (2003). Picassos Guernica als kunsttheoretisches Programm. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin. 




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Guernica

Guernica is a well-known masterpiece created by Pablo Picasso in 1937. The medium type is oil on canvas. It is 11 feet high and 25.6 feet wide ^[1]. Guernica depicts suffering people and animals trying to escape from the chaos after the city Guernica had been seriously bombed due to the Spanish civil war. People are shouting, screaming and crying because of not only physical but also mental pain brought by the war. A woman on the left is crying and holding her dead son. Behind her is a gloomy bull. A soldier is lying on the floor with a broken blame and obviously he is killed. In the middle there is a horse with a huge bleeding wound. Next to the horse is a floating woman carrying a candle in the darkness. On the extreme right is a painful on fire woman.  

I.                    Historical background

Guernica is a name of a town in the province of Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. This place was fiercely bombed for two hours by the German and Italian warplanes on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish civil war ^[2]. After hearing this tragic event, Picasso started his work depicting the chaotic situation of the bombing in Guernica in order to show the inerasable pain as well as the enormous destruction brought by the war.

II.                  Linkages to Cubism Style

Guernica clearly shows 5 typical features of Cubism, which are flat, fragment, interlocked background and figures, multiple viewpoints and things in geomantic angular shape.

Firstly, the whole image is flat and there is no sense of depth. There are several simple lines portraying the contour of the buildings, however, without clearly visible shadows and vanishing points, audience is unable to notice the perspective. Thus, it is hard to tell how many buildings are there in the picture. From the ambiguous outline of those buildings, audience also is not able to figure out where exactly the place is. This characteristic leads audience to confusion. Some perceive Guernica depicting a scene within a room. However, if we study the sketches of Guernica made by Picasso, we may conclude that it shows an outdoor setting.

Secondly, all the things in this picture, including human beings and animals, are broken up into fragments and lumps of colors. They are mixed by irregular pieces and pieces. This feature can be clearly observed from the bull on the left hand side: the bull is cut into four pieces which are the head, two legs and the main body. Its head is in white color while two legs are in dark and the body is in grey. Besides the bull, the lying soldier also shows this feature. His face has been broken up into pieces. His two eyes are randomly patched up on his side face. One eye is vertical while another is horizontal. They seem like two wrongly combined puzzles.

Guernica also adopted multiple viewpoints, which is a typical characteristic of Cubism drawing, showing many sides of an item on a plane surface at the same time.

Let’s take the middle horse as an example. The horse’s body is turning towards the right but its head is facing to the left. We can also clearly see the bottoms of its hoofs, which should not be visible to the eye of audience in reality. The horse is disproportionate and does not follow the perspective principles. A Spear pierces its body from the top down. According to the principles of perspective, the spearhead should not be seen from audience’s point of view. However, the spearhead is shown on the center of horse’s body. Explicit evidences on the usage of multiple viewpoints technique are given.

In addition, the background and figures are interlocked together. It is difficult for audience to catch sight of boundaries and edges of the front figures. The woman on the rightmost side is a clear demonstration of this feature: her body’s color is as same as that of the back wall. It seems that her lower part of the body is integrated with the background and thus, it is hard to tell where her belly and legs are.

Last but not least, things are drawn in geometric angular shapes. For instance, fire on the yelling woman and buildings is painted in triangles. Looking at the surrounding of the floating woman who is carrying a candle, we can observe that the light and shadows are presented by a heap of mixed up geometric shapes, such as triangles, parallelograms and rectangles.

Overall speaking, everything in Guernica is drawn in an unrealistic, disproportionate and solid way, which clearly demonstrates typical features of Cubism.

III.                Work Analysis

Tone and color

Guernica is drawn in black, white and grey. Without saturation, suffering people and animals can create not only gloomy feelings but also a sense of sadness and distress. The color usage strengthens the dark, serious and tragic theme of Guernica. Scholar Beverly Ray suggested ‘Picasso uses black, white, and grey paint to set a somber mood and express pain and chaos.’^[3] Additionally, Picasso depicted the battle scene without saturation is perhaps due to the black and white television technology at that time. In 1930s, newspapers and video clips were colorless and therefore, the monochromatic Guernica could be regarded as an immediate response to the war happening in Spain at that moment. Scholar Alejandro Escalona supported this view, he said ‘The blacks, whites, and grays startle you–especially because you are used to see war images broadcast live and in high-definition right to your living room.’^[4]

Focus

While audience first looks at Guernica, attention was caught by the middle light bulb as it is the brightest part of the whole picture. Then, our eye will automatically move to the seriously injured horse right below the light bulb. We can see its painful facial expression and its intensive body gesture. We will then attracted by the solider lying on the ground, just below the horse. He is dead as we can see his separated detached arms and legs. His body is full of wounds and the bones are clearly visible. Following the direction where the solider looks at, our eye come to the crying woman who is carrying her dead child. Finally our attention will stop at the bull which is a traditional symbol of the Spanish culture. The composition of the figures provides a route and guides us to view all important details, and thus we are able to understand the main theme of Guernica more easily.

Movement and Tension

In Guernica, figures are facing two main directions: upwards and left. The floating woman, the girl, the horse and the bull are facing to the left. They together create a movement towards left. Their actions imply that the left is the only way to exit and everyone strive to escape from the chaotic scene. The dead solider, the mother and the on fire woman are shouting at the sky. These two types of characters are arranged alternatively on the canvas. As their action is not consistent, a sense of chaos is created. Their vivid facial expression along with intensive body gestures, such as running, struggling and yelling with desperation, increase the tension of the whole picture. As a result, audience can easily feel their deep pain.

IV.               Metaphor

The metaphor in Guernica has raised a plenty of discussion. As Picasso refused to explain his metaphor, there is room for audience to interpret Guernica from their point of views. The most controversial one is the bull. According to Juan Larrea, ‘the bull is the eternal totem of Spain,’ while Vincente Marrero suggested that the bull signifies Fascism. Wilhelm Boek thought the bull represents hope for survival of the Spanish Nation. ^[5] In spite of the bull, there are some metaphors for certain. For instance, the woman with a candle floating into the house symbolizes hope being brought into the darkness. The dove on the wall traditionally represents peace. The brilliant light bulb can be regarded as hope

V.                 Significance

Guernica successfully triggered worldwide attentions since it conveyed messages of anti-war and advocated world peace. It is also widely considered to be a symbol of anti-fascism. During the war time, it was advocated that individual should devote their lives for the country. However, Guernica reminds us that every war kills not only thousands of solider but also innocent citizens. War brings inerasable suffering and pain to every individual. According to Becht-Jördens, Guernica is an illustration of how an art work can raise awareness of self-assertion. It gives voice to human inborn freedom and rights.

References

1. Paul Preston, The Destruction of Guernica. HarperCollins, 2012.

2. Arnheim, Rudolf, The genesis of a painting: Picasso's Guernica. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1973.

3. 6. Becht-Jördens, Gereon, Audience hmeier & Peter M, Picassos Guernica als kunsttheoretisches Programm. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin, 2003.

4. Ray, B. B., “Analyzing political art to get at historical fact: Guernica and the Spanish Civil War,” The Social Studies 97(4) (2006): 168 – 171

5. Escalona, Alejandro, “75 years of Picasso's Guernica: An Inconvenient Masterpiece,” The Huffington Post, May 23, 2012.

6. Rachel Wischnitzer, “Picasso's "Guernica". A Matter of Metaphor,” Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 6, No. 12 (1985): 153-172