Picasso Guernica Essay

I think what makes Picasso 's Guernica (1937) so beautiful and timeless is that it seamlessly brings together different styles of modern art. Initially, I saw the influence of Cubism. However, I don 't believe it can be pigeon-holed into one style. I think the spirit of Dadaism also plays a role in Picasso 's mural.

The mural is inspired by the massacre that happened in Guernica, Spain. As Lynn Robinson writes, "Hitler’s powerful German air force, acting in support of Franco, bombed the village of Guernica in northern Spain, a city of no strategic military value. It was history’s first aerial saturation bombing of a civilian population." (n.d., para. 4) All death in war is tragic. However, this event was particularly devastating because of the innocent lives lost. The attack a profound effect on

If I were asked to describe this painting, I would say Picasso took all the grief, anger, and emptiness he probably felt and painted it, in all its chaos. There is no color, just shades of white, black and gray. Picasso 's other works are brilliant and colorful, like other paintings of the time. The faces are distorted and despondent. I believe the abstract nature of Cubism is well suited to depict his grief because the emotions can be exaggerated and distorted. For example, the woman to the far right wailing over the body is very dramatic. Picasso can push emotion further by making his figures nonrepresentational. I also believe it 's anti-war message makes it a piece of Dada art as well. As poet Tristan Tzara (1918), wrote: "The beginnings of Dada were not the beginnings of art, but of disgust." There is nothing more disgusting than government 's attacking innocent civilian settlements, let alone their own people. I believe Picasso explains his political message perfectly, "The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against