Guernica Exhibited
Pablo Picasso's Guernica was exhibited at the Paris International Exposition
June 04, 1937
Art Born from Atrocity
Pablo Picasso painted Guernica in 1937 in response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain by Nazi Germany's Condor Legion and Fascist Italy's Aviazione Legionaria, carried out at the request of Spanish Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. On April 26, 1937, aircraft dropped bombs and incendiary devices on the town during a busy market day, killing hundreds of civilians. The attack shocked the world. Picasso, already commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a mural for the 1937 Paris World's Fair, abandoned his original plans and threw himself into creating a response to the massacre.
What the Painting Shows
Guernica is a massive work — nearly 11 feet tall and 25 feet wide — painted entirely in black, white, and grey. The monochromatic palette evokes the feel of newspaper photographs and gives the image an immediate, documentary quality. The painting is crowded with anguished figures: a screaming mother holding a dead child, a wounded horse in agony, a bull, a fallen soldier, a dismembered body, and a screaming figure engulfed by flames. The chaos and fragmentation of the image reflect the chaos of modern warfare. Every element contributes to a sense of overwhelming terror and suffering. Picasso used his Cubist style to show the horror of the attack from multiple angles simultaneously.
A Symbol of Peace
Guernica became one of the most powerful anti-war statements in the history of art. Picasso refused to allow the painting to be returned to Spain while Francisco Franco's dictatorship remained in power, and it was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for decades. After Franco's death and Spain's transition to democracy, the painting was finally returned to Spain in 1981 and is now displayed in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. A tapestry reproduction hangs at the United Nations headquarters in New York, outside the Security Council chamber — a permanent reminder of what war does to civilians. It remains among the most reproduced and discussed artworks ever created.