Guernica

Picasso was severely affected by the tragedies of the Spanish Civil War, which began on 17 July 1936 with a military coup headed by General Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic.

Franco's army had complete control of the country seven months later. Picasso informed his friend Joan Miró that he wanted to make something to express his rage after visiting Barcelona in October 1936 and witnessing vast destruction from violent fighting.

He later wrote, "I'm planning to paint something enormous... I'll accomplish it with all of my zeal." On December 2, 1936, he began sketching for the painting. Guernica has been considered the artist's most powerful work and one of his few truly epic masterpieces.

The picture was inspired by the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, during the Spanish Civil War by German planes led by General Franco. With striking power, it shows the agony and anguish of war. A wide-eyed bull stands to the left of the canvas, above a mother who is holding a dead infant in her arms. The focal point is a horse in misery as if struck by a weapon. A dismembered soldier lies beneath the horse, while a terrified female figure appears to have floated into the chamber through a window. An awestruck woman staggers towards the middle from the right. The bull and the horse, the painting's two primary motifs, are important figures in Spanish culture.

Picasso completed the painting in 1937, and it is regarded as one of his most iconic works. It illustrates the atrocities of war, such as brutality and death. The painting depicts all of the events that occurred during the conflict rather than any one combat or event.

Year: 1937