Guernica??

Question

What do you think was the chief motive behind the painting? We all know it was an anti-war painting but do you agree with the Soviet Union authorities who despised the painting, in spite of supporting the republicans during the Spanish civil war, because it was considered to be not realistic enough to convey a message. (They'd probably prefer a painting that had traces of social realism...)

Also how do you think the people are effected by the fact that the painting does not include any enemy soldiers but just suffering people? Is it just to show how modern warfare works or does it have an aesthetic or psychological purpose?

Answer 1

Well, I'd have to say that the Soviets would have preferred paintings more along the lines of some of Diego's Rivera's work, when it comes to it being more readily adaptable for public consumption. I find it almost impossible to think of guernica without drawing some sort of lineage between that piece and Goya's etchings. Especially since Goya is often refered to as a father of modern art. Goya's work may be considered more political in nature, often drawing clear lines between the suffering of the people, and the workings of the church, but, never the less both show the painful realities of the people stuck in the times. Both show the psychological trauma that affected the people in both times. I really don't see the need for any type of portrayal of enemy combatants in Picasso's piece, especially considering Spain's enemy was itself, much like in Goya's work. Well, I hope this was a bit helpful, and good question, don't see many like it!

Answer 2

I don't feel that Pablo Picasso was very interested in the great motivitation for the war. In my mind is was a scream about the devastation that it created in the lives of the everyday person in his homeland. The technique of cubism was relatively new at the time period that Guernica was created. Picasso was the supreme draftsman and could have drawn it in a realistic manner if that matched his vision. The Soviet Union on the other hand was far more involved with the great battle of ideologies and would criticize any one and anything that they felt threatened their stance and position.

Answer 3

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 reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death? ... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.
-Picasso