The above image is the sketch on May 11, 1937, the first time Picasso drew on the huge canvas that would eventually become the final mural (25’ 8” long and 11’ 6” high).  He revised the mural throughout the painting process. The canvas went through 10 states upon his completion of the final work.  Picasso often included bulls, horses, and women in his paintings. These recurring themes offer some of the mural’s most haunting and emotional images.

Picasso’s impressions of the attack were formed in his imagination, influenced by graphic photographs that ran in Paris newspaper reports as well as letters he received from his mother, who had described the Civil War unfolding in Barcelona, where he lived during childhood. Also, his nephews had taken up arms against Franco as part of a Barcelona resistance militia.

Picasso was personally affected by the Civil War in 1936. He accepted the position as honorary director of Spain’s Museo del Prado, home to works by Velázquez, El Greco, and Goya, among others. A few months later, the museum was attacked by Franco’s men in an attempt to capture Madrid, and Picasso made the decision to evacuate the museum’s treasures to Geneva.

Studying the story of Picasso’s Guernica has taken me through the history and culture of the Basque people, the Spanish Civil War, fascism, and how an emotionally powerful image can resonate far beyond its original purpose, intertwining history, politics, and culture. My interpretation of the information crosses into a few areas. Firstly, the Basque people view their traditions and way of life as precious treasures, never completely safe from outside influence and interference.  Also, on some level, Picasso understood....Go to Continued Page>