When the recent events in Afghanistan hit the headlines, I thought about the importance of humanizing a distant tragic event and the unique ability of artists to do so.
The monumental painting by Picasso "Guernica" - more than 25 meters wide - is a vivid example of this. This is not just a work of art, but a piece of history that captures the horrors of modern warfare in a modern style.
The painting (in this photo, recreated on the wall of the same Basque market town of Guernica) depicts an event. On April 26, 1937, Guernica became the target of the world's first civilian aerial bombardment. Spain was in the midst of a bitter civil war (1936-1939) in which a democratically elected government clashed with fascist General Francisco Franco. To put down the Basque rebels, Franco allowed his fascist ally Adolf Hitler to use the city as a guinea pig for testing new German air weapons. The attack devastated the city, causing destruction unknown at the time (although this would have been common in 1944).
News of the attack reached Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard living in Paris. Horrified by what was happening in his hometown, Picasso immediately began to paint scenes of destruction as he imagined them...
Bombs fell, tearing the abandoned village to pieces. A woman screams in the sky, a horse screams, and a man falls to the ground and dies. The bull - the symbol of Spain - thinks about everything, takes care of the dead mother and child ... modern "poor people".
Picasso's abstract cubist style reinforces this message. It was as if he took out fragments of a bomb and stuck them to the canvas. The black and white tones were as harsh as the newspaper photographs reporting the attack, and created a depressing and terrifying atmosphere.
Picasso chose universal symbols, making his work a commentary on all wars. A horse with a spear on its back symbolizes a person subject to violence. The fallen knight had a severed arm and a broken sword, another symbol of defeat. The bull, usually a proud symbol of power, is powerless and fearful. The frightened dove of peace could not stop crying. The entire stage was illuminated from above by the bright light of a bare lamp. Picasso's painting describes the brutality of Hitler and Franco. And suddenly he saw the whole world.
The painting debuted at the Paris Exhibition in 1937 and immediately made a splash. For the first time the world saw the destructive power of the growing fascist movement, the beginning of World War II.
In the end, Franco won the Spanish Civil War and ruled the country with an iron fist for the next 36 years. Picasso vowed never to return to Franco's Spain. This was how Guernica was shown in New York until Franco's death (1975), which ended decades of exile. Picasso's masterpiece is now in Madrid as Spain's national work of art.
Year after year, the canvas seems more prophetic, honoring not only the thousands who died in Guernica, but also the brutal Spanish Civil War, the 55 million victims of World War II, and the 500,000 victims of many recent wars. . . Picasso gave a human face to what we now call "collateral damage."