Guernica Pablo Picasso Analysis

Since the beginning of history, art has been used as a way to express the feelings a nation faces during one of society’s biggest tragedies: war. When the city of Guernica in Spain was mercilessly bombed by the Luftwaffe, Pablo Picasso began working on his painting titled Guernica to show the Spaniard’s disdain for the war. Similarly, Bernie Boston captured his photograph titled Flower Power during a protest for the Vietnam War. These two works of art share many differences, both obvious and symbolic. However, they share a common meaning of peace and an end to brutal war.
During 1937, when Picasso painted Guernica, Spain was in the middle of a civil war. Right-winged Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco were attempting to take over Spain. They disagreed with the …show more content…
The painting itself is an “11 ½ x 25 ½ foot mural commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 Paris World’s Fair” as stated in Reading the World (Austin). Each inch of this magnificent painting has a symbolic meaning intended to show the pain of the people of Guernica. Beginning at the left, one can see a woman holding a baby and crying. Including women and children shows how these were innocent people being attacked. There is also a bull looking terrified. Bulls are a common animal in Spain and considered powerful due to activities such as bull fighting and running with the bulls. The fact that this bull is defeated shows the strength of the Nazi attack; giving the animals human expressions only intensifies the impact of the painting. Moving towards the right, you can see a dying man on the floor holding a broken dagger symbolizes the death of the soldiers fighting for the Republican government and showing how they died fighting with no energy left. However, if you look closely, there is a flower emerging from the broken dagger, showing how beauty can come from evil, even