- After reading Chapter 15, examine Picasso's painting, Guernica closely.
- Click/visit the links below to learn additional information about Picasso's painting Guernica. The first site also includes information about the Spanish Civil War, the bombing of Guernica, Picasso's artistic process, ect. The 3-D video helps to simplify the experience of looking at this otherwise "busy" or chaotic composition.
- Consider the painting's meaning in terms of its form and iconography (imagery and symbolism), as well as the statements about it that appear in the text.
- Clearly this work has strong political and emotional messages. Identify these messages and explain how Picasso expresses them. Be specific.
Picasso's inspiration for “Guernica” comes from the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and more specifically by a town that suffered greatly as it was destroyed by German Bombers. He uses a color scheme of black, white and gray to symbolize the darkness, and suffering that occurred in Guernica. The book stated that elements of this specific work can be traced by in some of Picasso’s previous work, maybe indicating his personal suffering or maybe what he perceived would happen to the area of Guernica. Politically, Picasso supported the “Republicans in their fight against the fascist general Francisco Franco."
Picasso created figures that have been tortured, for example, he displays body parts scattered. The face at the top right corner depicts a person that has been murdered, and the look on his face as he was just killed, and now frozen in death and fear. I think the candles have double meaning in that they represent the fact that there was no actual electricity / power; but also symbolize the darkness and lack of power the people had and / or felt prior to, during, and after the unexpected raid and the resulting horror of its aftermath.
No comments:
Post a Comment