PICASSO IS WORTHWHILE

When I saw this picture for the first time,  it aroused many different feelings in me. Basically, I think it transmits some sensations such as chaos, anxiety, hustle, disorder, madness, despair, suffering, death... This helps us to understand the topic of this painting, which focuses on the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Picasso, a Spanish republican painter, is inspired by a historical fact characterized for the brutality and inhumanity: the bombing of the town of Guernica. However, Picasso does not represent the bombing itself, but his pain through multiple symbols. Most of them have one thing in common: they are a cry against war, to make us reflect on the destruction and pain that was present in Spain less than 100 years ago.

In my opinion, the bull (at the top, on the left) could be related to the brutality and fascism that oppresses its victims. The woman with the dead child in her arms (under the bull) could represent the pain and despair. The horse (in the middle of the scene) could represent the Spanish people and the maimed man on the floor refers to the war deads. However, I think Picasso draws hopeful symbols, such as the light bulb or the flower holded  by the arm of the maimed man.

Anyway, I think this work is great because Picasso is able to transmit a vision that summarizes and mimics the experiences and consequences of the Spanish Civil War. From my point of view, the painting itself is not pretty or nice to see… because the Spanish war was neither.