Before World War II erupted, there was a large civil war going on in Spain.
It was a horrible conflict where thousands perished and the infamous Francisco Franco became Spain's ruthless dictator.
Particularly in the Basque country, the fighting was brutal, and it is estimated that over half of the casualties were innocent civilians.
As the war progressed, the Nationalist forces gained an incredibly powerful alley, Nazi Germany, who gave them arms, men, cargo, planes, and bombs.
The Nazi Luftwaffe, or Air force, was developing advanced tactics to not only cripple their enemies' war machines, but to completely break the will of the entire nation to fight. They reasoned that if civilians where intentionally targeted that it would break their morale and they would soon surrender. Thus, the "Terror Bombing" chapter was indoctrinated into the Blitzkrieg tactics. There was only one problem with this new way of waging war; It had yet to be tested.
Germany was not yet pursuing its world dominance, and so it loaned some pilots, planes and bombs to the Nationalists of Spain to not only produce another fascist country but also to test this Terror Bombing to see how effective it could be. They graciously accepted by choosing the little town of Guernicia, in Basque country.
while Guernicia was the unofficial Head-quarters for the Republican forces, it housed one of the smallest military forces in the area, and was mainly populated by civilians. It would be the perfect testing grounds for their tactics, and they shortly afterwords prepared the Heinkel bomber planes.
The bombs started to drop the afternoon of April 26, 1937. For nearly two hours, hundreds of bombs fell into the once peaceful town, killing hundreds (estimated to be in the thousands by some experts) of unarmed, non-military people. The destruction was horrific, and would serve to be a template of the rest of Europe in only a few more years.
The news of this bombing started to fly across Europe, and reached the ears of a native of the Basque country who was staying in Paris. Pablo Picasso, the famous cubist painter was stunned to hear about such a brutal attack on defenseless people, and not a month later had started one of his most famous paintings ever, in disgust about the massacre. He finished the 25 foot long, 11 foot high painting in less than a month, titling it Guernicia.
Picasso used only black and white paints to depict the horrors of the bombing, giving it an ethereal contrast and making it feel like a photograph (which at the time were primarily monochromatic). Using his trademark cubism Picasso aimed to not only add complete confusion to the piece but also tell the tale from multiple angles.
It should be noted that there are also some symbolism with all of the animals (namely the horse and the bull) but that is something that the individual should explore themselves.
This is one of my absolute favorite paintings, and I am not entirely sure why. I remember reading in one of my Battle encyclopedia books as a young teenager and coming across a picture of this. The description talked about how people react and depict war in so many diverse ways, from such a striking, abstract, and unnatural painting like this to the triumphant horse riding victory of the Romantics. I have always been fascinated with conflicts like these, and to get a painting that depicts to me the chaos of what this new kind of war must be like captures my interest and emotions. What it must have felt like to be those poor citizens, having your entire world on fire and exploding, with nothing but the screams of your friends, neighbors and family mixed with the mechanical drone of the heartless, faceless planes above to hear. What would I do in such a horrific situation? Where do you begin in cleaning up and trying to repair all of this?
On my last note of this painting, I cannot pretend that I understand Picasso's Cubism, and certainly not appreciate it the way that it is intended to, but I can appreciate the work that he has put into it, as well as the thought and the striking image itself that brings to my mind so many emotions and even memories. I like to think that Picasso would be proud that his painting has touched someone who previously didn't even like the movement.
Germany was not yet pursuing its world dominance, and so it loaned some pilots, planes and bombs to the Nationalists of Spain to not only produce another fascist country but also to test this Terror Bombing to see how effective it could be. They graciously accepted by choosing the little town of Guernicia, in Basque country.
while Guernicia was the unofficial Head-quarters for the Republican forces, it housed one of the smallest military forces in the area, and was mainly populated by civilians. It would be the perfect testing grounds for their tactics, and they shortly afterwords prepared the Heinkel bomber planes.
The bombs started to drop the afternoon of April 26, 1937. For nearly two hours, hundreds of bombs fell into the once peaceful town, killing hundreds (estimated to be in the thousands by some experts) of unarmed, non-military people. The destruction was horrific, and would serve to be a template of the rest of Europe in only a few more years.
 |
| The destruction of Guernicia. Less than five years later most of Europe would look eerily similar. Eyewitness reports where horrific, detailing the incredible destructiveness of the bombs. |
The news of this bombing started to fly across Europe, and reached the ears of a native of the Basque country who was staying in Paris. Pablo Picasso, the famous cubist painter was stunned to hear about such a brutal attack on defenseless people, and not a month later had started one of his most famous paintings ever, in disgust about the massacre. He finished the 25 foot long, 11 foot high painting in less than a month, titling it Guernicia.
Picasso used only black and white paints to depict the horrors of the bombing, giving it an ethereal contrast and making it feel like a photograph (which at the time were primarily monochromatic). Using his trademark cubism Picasso aimed to not only add complete confusion to the piece but also tell the tale from multiple angles.
It should be noted that there are also some symbolism with all of the animals (namely the horse and the bull) but that is something that the individual should explore themselves.
This is one of my absolute favorite paintings, and I am not entirely sure why. I remember reading in one of my Battle encyclopedia books as a young teenager and coming across a picture of this. The description talked about how people react and depict war in so many diverse ways, from such a striking, abstract, and unnatural painting like this to the triumphant horse riding victory of the Romantics. I have always been fascinated with conflicts like these, and to get a painting that depicts to me the chaos of what this new kind of war must be like captures my interest and emotions. What it must have felt like to be those poor citizens, having your entire world on fire and exploding, with nothing but the screams of your friends, neighbors and family mixed with the mechanical drone of the heartless, faceless planes above to hear. What would I do in such a horrific situation? Where do you begin in cleaning up and trying to repair all of this?
On my last note of this painting, I cannot pretend that I understand Picasso's Cubism, and certainly not appreciate it the way that it is intended to, but I can appreciate the work that he has put into it, as well as the thought and the striking image itself that brings to my mind so many emotions and even memories. I like to think that Picasso would be proud that his painting has touched someone who previously didn't even like the movement.
Thank you for this post - it is sobering to think about the lives lost. I wonder if Grandpa Varela knew anyone who was there. Picasso seems to be the perfect artist to make this depiction.
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