{"id":26862,"date":"2025-01-15T13:37:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26862"},"modified":"2025-01-15T13:38:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T18:38:39","slug":"episode-1205-january-15-2025-picassos-guernica-you-must-interpret-the-painting-yourself-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26862","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 1,205, JANUARY 15, 2025: PICASSO’S GUERNICA: YOU MUST INTERPRET THE PAINTING YOURSELF FIRST"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 1,205,  JANUARY 15, 2025:   PICASSO’S GUERNICA:  YOU MUST INTERPRET THE PAINTING YOURSELF FIRST<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
january 15, 2025<\/div>\n

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Note:  Marjorie invited me to view the film Picasso at our local cinema.  I had not given <\/span>the painting much thought<\/div>\n
although I had seen it often in my 86 years.  Perhaps you are as ignorant as I was.  Can you see meaning?<\/div>\n
My thanks to Margaret Geare and the retired elementary teachers of Mississauga.  Visit AMC In January.<\/div>\n

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\"\"www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Guernica-canvas-Pablo-Picasso-Madrid-Museo-Nacional-1937-300×134.jpg<\/a> 300w, www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Guernica-canvas-Pablo-Picasso-Madrid-Museo-Nacional-1937-768×343.jpg<\/a> 768w, www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Guernica-canvas-Pablo-Picasso-Madrid-Museo-Nacional-1937-1536×686.jpg<\/a> 1536w, www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Guernica-canvas-Pablo-Picasso-Madrid-Museo-Nacional-1937-1140×509.jpg<\/a> 1140w, www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Guernica-canvas-Pablo-Picasso-Madrid-Museo-Nacional-1937.jpg<\/a> 1600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”><\/div>\n

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PABLO PICASSO\u2019S MOST FAMOUS PIECE OF ART \u2014\u201cGUERNICA\u201d<\/div>\n

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What does it mean?   Picasso never explained the meaning.  And even today there are<\/div>\n
various interpretations of Guernica.   If asked meaning Picasso is said to have carried a pistol<\/div>\n
loaded with blanks that he fired at those seeking meaning from him.  Why did he do that?<\/span> What does Guernica mean?<\/div>\n
Take a look and suggest meaning.  What do you see?  Do that now\u2026before looking at<\/div>\n
what others see.  Do it now.<\/div>\n

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Your note?  Right here!<\/div>\n

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WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED on  on April and May , 1937<\/div>\n

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Guernica, located in Basque country, was a place of particular importance to the Republicans. Although the city had no military significance, it was symbolic of the Basque culture. On April 26, 1937, Hitler\u2019s German Condor Legion bombed the city for three hours, acting in support of General Franco. Twenty five bomber planes bombed the town with 100,000 pounds of explosives, and twenty more planes hunted down citizens trying to flee the scene. It is thought that the majority of citizens were trapped in the center of the town, as it was market day, and they were unable to escape as the roads and bridges surrounding them had been destroyed. The majority of men were at war, so most of the 1,600 townspeople injured or killed were women and children. <\/p>\n

News of the attack reached Paris on May 1, 1937. As a supporter of the Republicans, Picasso<\/a> was horrified by the news and began work on the preliminary sketches that would become the Guernica<\/span> mural. In the 1940s, a German officer would see a photograph of Guernica in Picasso\u2019s apartment and ask, \u201cDid you do that?\u201d, to which Picasso replied, \u201cNo. You did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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I am not an art critic.  When I searched my mind for meaning what did I see?   I saw the<\/div>\n
absolute horrors of war.  A bomb has been detonated in the market square of the<\/div>\n
Basque town of Guernica in 1937\u2026dropped from a Nazi dive bomber on women and children\u2026<\/div>\n
horses and bulls\u2026blasting them into tiny meaningful pieces\u2026expressing Picasso\u2019s hatred<\/div>\n
of war and the mindless atrocities war brings upon innocent people and animals.<\/div>\n

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No doubt that ignorant comment would prompt Picasso to take a blank shot at me.<\/div>\n

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WHAT DO OTHERS SEE IN \u2018GUERNICA\u2019?<\/div>\n
(courtesy of singulart)<\/font><\/div>\n

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In Guernica<\/span>, we can see six human figures \u2013 four women, a man, and a child \u2013 as well as a horse and a bull. The scene is frenzied, lit only by a lamp bulb bursting with light over all of the chaos. <\/p>\n

To the left of the painting, a bull whose side has been pierced by a dagger looms over a devastated mother, wailing as she holds her dead child in her arms. A horse brays as it tramples a fallen man, whose right arm has been severed from his body. In his dismembered hand he holds a shattered sword, and we can see a flower blooming from his clenched fist. Two ghostly figures float eerily toward the center of the piece, one holding a gas lamp to examine the turmoil in front of her. At the right of the painting, we can see a figure screaming, engulfed in flames.   <\/p>\n

Guernica<\/span> is painted in a monochromatic palette, using a technique known as grisaille. Picasso had a paint specially created for Guernica<\/span> in order to use the least amount of gloss possible and emulate the immediacy of wartime photography. Despite the immense size of Guernica<\/span>, it only took Picasso a month and a half to complete, ready to be exhibited in the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris World Fair. <\/p>\n

Speaking about Guernica,<\/span> Picasso stated: <\/p>\n

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\u201cMy whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. In the picture I am painting, which I shall call Guernica, I am expressing my horror of the military caste which is now plundering Spain into an ocean of misery and death.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Symbolism of Guernica <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/h3>\n

Picasso never publicly confirmed any of the interpretations of Guernica<\/span>, and its meaning has been hotly debated ever since its creation. Here, Singulart breaks down the elements of the piece along with their possible symbolism. <\/p>\n

\"\"www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224_Guernica_Ruinen-300×220.jpg<\/a> 300w, www.singulart.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224_Guernica_Ruinen-768×562.jpg<\/a> 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 761px) 100vw, 761px” style=”box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 100%; display: block; border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; outline: 0px !important;” apple-inline=”yes” id=”C9326565-BAC3-4A26-9843-672B599DDD88″ src=”https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224_Guernica_Ruinen.jpg”>
Die Ruinen von Guernica 5603\/37<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is believed that the bull, with its dispassionate, expressionless face, could symbolize Franco. However, as a bull is a symbol for virility, the stab wounds of the bull could symbolize that man is fractured, that humanity in general is in trouble. It has also been theorized that the bull could be an emblem of Spanish culture, as Picasso had referenced bullfighting in previous paintings (this would also account for the stab wounds on the bull). <\/p>\n

The mother and child at the left of the painting could be a reference to Madonna and child, or more specifically a symbol of pieta<\/span>. Pieta<\/span>, or pity, is a trope that has been seen in countless artworks, referencing Mary carrying Jesus\u2019s dead body in her arms after he was taken down from the cross. <\/p>\n

The horse is the center of the painting; our eye is immediately drawn to its panicked, hysterical expression. It is generally believed that the horse symbolizes the Guernican people, with the arrow piercing the horse\u2019s side adding to this conclusion. It is interesting to note that early sketches of the horse, hidden on this canvas by layers of paint and revisions, portrayed it with a downward expression, as if admitting defeat. Here, in the final version, the horse has been struck and in pain but remains defiant until its last moments. <\/p>\n

The only male figure in this painting can be seen under the horse, screaming in pain as the horse tramples his dismembered body. Only the upper half of his body is visible, with the rest lost in the swirling chaos surrounding him. While one of his hands shows signs of the stigmata, another Biblical reference, a white flower grows out of the broken sword in the other hand, which could symbolize hope after destruction. <\/p>\n

The lamp that hangs overhead, illuminating the scene, could be interpreted as a bomb dropping. However, some critics have argued that it represents the eye of God. It has also been suggested that the lamp represents the notion of technology being used to propel evil, shining a spotlight on the dark side of modern technology. <\/p>\n

Historians have debated the meaning of the three women on the right side of the painting. It has been suggested that the women represent the three fates, as seen in Greek mythology, or that they could depict the three martyred virgins of early Christianity. They could also be a reflection of Picasso\u2019s personal life, portraying his wife and two lovers. <\/p>\n

Picasso was deliberately obtuse about the meaning of Guernica<\/span>, which is partly why it has been so thoroughly discussed and debated since its creation. He stated, \u201cIt isn\u2019t up to the painter to define the symbols\u2026 The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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EPISODE 1,205,  JANUARY 15, 2025:   PICASSO’S GUERNICA:  YOU MUST INTERPRET THE PAINTING YOURSELF FIRST alan skeoch january 15, 2025 Note:  Marjorie invited me to view the film Picasso at our local cinema.  I had not given the painting much thought although I had seen it often in my 86 years.  Perhaps you are as ignorant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}