Styles

In this section you can search all our contents throughout the different stages in the history of art in Spain, to find styles such as Baroque, Gothic, Mudejar and many, many more.

Picasso. 'Guernica' Modernism and Avant-garde movements The turn of the century brought new winds of modernity. The aesthetic sensibility of the time was marked by a different, freer attitude towards art and life.

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Guernica

  • Pablo Ruiz Picasso. ‘Guernica’. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid © De las reproducciones autorizadas, VEGAP, 2011

    Pablo Ruiz Picasso. ‘Guernica’. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid © De las reproducciones autorizadas, VEGAP, 2011

     
  

Category

Painting

Date

20th century (1937)

Cultural background

Avant-garde

Original title

Guernica

This vast canvas by Picasso is an indictment of war, and has become a universal emblem.

'Guernica' is the faithful reflection of a dramatic period and set of circumstances, and was created for the Spanish Pavilion in the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris. Picasso painted this work in reaction to the news of the German bombing of the Basque town which gives its name to the work, captured in the heart-rending photographs published by the French newspaper 'L'Humanité'.

However, neither the sketches nor the painting itself allude to specific events, but rather comprise a generic condemnation of the barbarity and terror of war. Conceived as a giant poster, it is testament to the horror of the Spanish Civil War, as well as a foreboding of what was soon to take place in World War II. The sobriety of the colours, the intensity of each and every one of the motifs and their articulation together all combine to endow the scene with an atmosphere of heightened tragedy.
 

Details of the work

Object
Mural painting

Dimensions
349.3 x 776.6 cm

Technique
Oil on canvas

  

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