Guernic Symbolism, Significance, And The Spanish Civil War
“Guernica”: Symbolism, Significance, and the Spanish Civil War “Guernica,” painted by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso in 1937, is a memorial of the bombing of the town of Guernica in Northern Spain by the Nazi’s during the Spanish Civil War (Petersen). The Spanish Civil War was an amalgamation of many different political factions into two opponents: The Republicans and the Nationalists. The Spanish Civil War, however, was not based solely on combative political ideologies. It was correspondingly due to many different political, economic, and militaristic struggles during the early twentieth century and the resulting frustration, anger, and class-antipathy corroded Spanish society. The masterpiece, “Guernica” has many symbols and objects
…show more content…
imbedded in the art. The symbols of the bull, the four women, the horse, the broken statue, and the sun articulate the misfortunes of Spain during the early decades of the twentieth century.
The incredible work of art, “Guernica” resides in the National Museum of Queen Sofia in Madrid, Spain, was created by Pablo Picasso. Picasso had a history of reflecting his personal life in his artwork (Petersen). For example, at the turn of the twentieth century, Picasso lost his best friend, Carlos Casagemas, to suicide which sparked Picasso’s “Blue Period.” The “Blue Period” is when much of his art was predominantly blue in color. Also, the subjects of his art involved mainly poverty and misery, suggesting a depressed state of mind (Petersen). Later, Picasso soon began a new style from which “Picasso began focusing on the geometric nature of the human form, developing his cubist approach to painting” (Petersen). As for “Guernica,” Picasso chose Cubism and greyscale as his method of style. Cubism is an abstract style of art which reduces the natural figures of objects to their geometrical equivalents. “Guernica” has many disgruntled figures and symbols which give it greater meaning with an overall theme of suffering. The symbols of primary interest, of which relate to the Spain’s struggles, are: the bull, the four women, the horse, the broken statue, and the sun.
Spain had been going through many different regime changes since the beginning of the twentieth century. To start the century, King Alfonso XIII had been in power. Alfonso XIII took power in a heap of political disarray (SpanishWars). The three previous regimes were not successful at handling a very divided Spain. While Spain was still a monarchy, it contained a parliament which could suggest policy for the monarch to enforce. The parliament simply existed to appease the two primary sides of the political atmosphere, the left and the catholic right. This is what was called “party turning.” Rather than continue the appeasement of both sides, Alfonso XIII altered the “party turning” (Bolloten 4) into a system which decreased his own power.
Alfonso XIII wanted to return Spain to its previous role as a hegemony in colonial powers and he first eyed Morocco, Spain’s North African neighbor. This meant a war with Morocco, which was extremely bloody and costly for Spain, causing large uprisings from the working class (Phillips, 233). While the uprisings were extinguished by the government, they were effective at reducing Alfonso XIII’s stronghold in government. As a result, the military general Miguel Primo de Rivera was forced to intervene (239). Primo used this opportunity in the 1920s to take over the government. Primo disbanded the parliament, which was a big piece of the party turning as previously mentioned and he also forced Alfonso XIII to abdicate his kingship. Primo was intended to only serve as leader for ninety days, but Primo never left and he rather established a military dictatorship. Primo’s dictatorship was short lived and he failed to maintain the support of the army, forcing him to resign in 1930 (242). The succeeding government was the Second Spanish Republic, which would soon lose the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco in an attempted coup d’état. The bull represents Spanish culture and brutality amongst it. The bull is a symbol of Spain most famously because of “Las Corridas del Toro” or the Running of the Bulls in the celebrations of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain (Phillips 194). The celebrations are for an honorable Saint Fermin, a Catholic martyr who was beheaded on a preaching voyage to France. These celebrations have been in Spanish culture for centuries which have helped unify and bring together people to revel in their cultural activities. Picasso’s use of the bull in “Guernica” signifies how Spanish culture has been strained and driven to the point of madness. The bull in the painting has an expression of panic as it is turning around to view the horrific tragedy that has occurred. The civil war was fought between the Nationalists and the Republicans (Phillips 253). The right-wing Nationalists were comprised of the Spanish Falange, or the fascist movements, high military leaders, the Catholic Church, and much of the bourgeoisie led by General Francisco Franco. The Republicans, on the other hand, were loyal democrats and supporters of the failed Second Spanish Republic allied with Communists and Anarchists (253). The bull relates to the immorality and viciousness of both sides of the war, as they are all dangerous and destructive, yet all Spanish. However, in the bombing of Guernica, it displays how pitiless it was for the Fascists to bomb the primarily Republican town of Guernica. Franco, being helped with finances and supplies by Hitler, permitted him to practice what would become Blitzkrieg tactics by the Nazis in World War Two. The face of the bull has a sense of shock and humanity to it.
The watchful, humanoid eyes of the bull perhaps suggest the Spanish Nationalists reaction to their victory—a bitter and unnerved reaction. The bull sympathizes the tormented, portrayed by its tongue and raised tail, but does not seem to be the main actor in the bombing, suggesting even more so it is the Spanish Nationalists witnessing Hitler’s brutality. In Carla Gottlieb’s “The Meaning of the Bull and Horse in Guernica,” Gottlieb explains one author’s interpretation of the bull displays “…the cruelty and brutality which overshadow our time…” (106). This interpretation is a broader perspective on the significance of the bull and does not sufficiently describe how this relates to the Spanish people, as the painting itself is extremely specific to a bombardment in a Spanish town.
Picasso’s “Guernica” captures all the turmoil of each political faction and the human impact through the four women depicted in the painting. On the far left, there is a woman screaming in pain while clutching the lifeless body of a child. This image harkens to the Catholic Church icon of the Virgin Mary, albeit tainted by the brutal war. On the far right of the painting, there is a woman screaming while being engulfed in a flaming building. The last two women are just to the left of the woman in the burning building. Both remaining women have vociferous expressions, as if they too are screaming. One woman is carrying a lamp, which is illuminating the destruction and the last woman has a broken and disfigured body.
Why is the woman using an outdated lamp rather than a modern lamp? The symbol of the outdated lamp could characterize the Republicans as not having competitive enough technology to combat the dangerously advanced Nationalist Arsenal. Although the woman has a meager lamp, it remains lit and signifying that their hope cannot be quenched with terrorism. Women were not the ones fighting in the armies of each side, so they represent the helpless victims of the war. The woman who resembles the Virgin and Child (Gottlieb, 111) represents the Catholic Church and its affiliation with the Nationalist powers who are responsible for the suffering in the painting. Moreover, the Virgin is crying upwards towards the bull, which as previously established represents the brutality of the Spanish warheads. The Virgin is losing her “children” who are the Spanish men fighting in the godless war. The other three women on the right of the painting are direct victims of the Guernica bombings, which were primarily Republicans.
In the center of all the turmoil, resides a collapsing horse seemingly bearing the brunt of the aerial destruction.
Horses are and have been companions to man for ages; nevertheless, it is the horse in “Guernica” which is being hunted and destroyed. Picasso’s loyalties lied with the victims of the war and it is known he was not in favor of Franco as he created an etching with an accompanying poem in 1937 called “The Dream and Lie of Franco” (Gottlieb, 110). Understanding Picasso’s devotions is imperative to evaluate the significance of the horse. Gottlieb also describes the horse symbolizing “…the agony of Nationalist Spain” (106). This interpretation differs by focusing the ‘true victims’ of the bombardment being the very people who promote the violence and asked the Nazis to come and bomb Guernica, Spain (Anderson). It is not feasible for Picasso to have been so against the Nationalist government yet make them the victims of his art. Moreover, Petersen describes Picasso’s motivation to create the work, “In a show of hatred for what had transpired, Picasso painted a [huge] mural eleven and a half feet high and twenty-five feet eight inches wide which was meant to protest the war. Though the work was highly controversial, he received tremendous praise for the
effort.”
Below the panicked horse and the irate woman with deceased child lies a broken and maimed statue of a soldier. Spanish civilization existed centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. Having been through countless forms of government, cultures, religions, Spain has acquired a lot of eloquent history. Often, statues are erected in civilizations to commemorate some incredible historical event or significant leader (Gottlieb, 112). The broken statue of the warrior displays what the war has done to Spanish culture—it too is in ruins. No longer were the Spanish representing and praising their significant culture, they had rather centralized their focus on the war (“Spanish Civil War,” George Washington University). Picasso does convey some sense of hope in “Guernica” as there is a flower growing next to the maimed statue. This minute detail signifies an optimistic future, as if, perhaps life will continue even after all the death in the war. After all, when a fire blazes through a forest, life relentlessly returns.
The sun overlooking all the destruction in “Guernica” is a very interesting detail for Picasso to have included. The sun is a typical symbol of what all life on Earth stems from and is the ultimate sign of light and nature. The sun is all powerful. It is not something man can harness or alter, it remains and will be for infinity. Within the sun however, resides a light bulb. The light bulb is man’s attempt at mimicking the sun. It symbolizes modernization and industrialization of nations. The light bulb too has an enormous impact on civilization in terms of productivity and development of society. In the Spanish language, the light bulb translates to “bombilla.” Bombilla is like another word in Spanish: “bomba,” in English it translates to bomb (Gottlieb, 112). So, within the ultimate symbol of life and light exists an artificial one, who’s name resembles that which is causing the turmoil in Guernica, bombs.
Pablo Picasso’s, “Guernica” is truly a fascinating masterpiece for the artistic world. It is a significant marker of the transgressions humanity can impose upon one-another. The many symbols in “Guernica” including the bull, the horse, the four women, the statue and flower, and the sun all tie into Spanish culture and the occurrences and impact of the Spanish Civil War. Spain experienced a very difficult and trying time in the early twentieth century and there are still aftershocks impacting its society today. Through “Guernica,” the impressions from Spanish Civil war can be experienced and learned from to create a better future and prevent horrible repeats of history.
imbedded in the art. The symbols of the bull, the four women, the horse, the broken statue, and the sun articulate the misfortunes of Spain during the early decades of the twentieth century.
The incredible work of art, “Guernica” resides in the National Museum of Queen Sofia in Madrid, Spain, was created by Pablo Picasso. Picasso had a history of reflecting his personal life in his artwork (Petersen). For example, at the turn of the twentieth century, Picasso lost his best friend, Carlos Casagemas, to suicide which sparked Picasso’s “Blue Period.” The “Blue Period” is when much of his art was predominantly blue in color. Also, the subjects of his art involved mainly poverty and misery, suggesting a depressed state of mind (Petersen). Later, Picasso soon began a new style from which “Picasso began focusing on the geometric nature of the human form, developing his cubist approach to painting” (Petersen). As for “Guernica,” Picasso chose Cubism and greyscale as his method of style. Cubism is an abstract style of art which reduces the natural figures of objects to their geometrical equivalents. “Guernica” has many disgruntled figures and symbols which give it greater meaning with an overall theme of suffering. The symbols of primary interest, of which relate to the Spain’s struggles, are: the bull, the four women, the horse, the broken statue, and the sun.
Spain had been going through many different regime changes since the beginning of the twentieth century. To start the century, King Alfonso XIII had been in power. Alfonso XIII took power in a heap of political disarray (SpanishWars). The three previous regimes were not successful at handling a very divided Spain. While Spain was still a monarchy, it contained a parliament which could suggest policy for the monarch to enforce. The parliament simply existed to appease the two primary sides of the political atmosphere, the left and the catholic right. This is what was called “party turning.” Rather than continue the appeasement of both sides, Alfonso XIII altered the “party turning” (Bolloten 4) into a system which decreased his own power.
Alfonso XIII wanted to return Spain to its previous role as a hegemony in colonial powers and he first eyed Morocco, Spain’s North African neighbor. This meant a war with Morocco, which was extremely bloody and costly for Spain, causing large uprisings from the working class (Phillips, 233). While the uprisings were extinguished by the government, they were effective at reducing Alfonso XIII’s stronghold in government. As a result, the military general Miguel Primo de Rivera was forced to intervene (239). Primo used this opportunity in the 1920s to take over the government. Primo disbanded the parliament, which was a big piece of the party turning as previously mentioned and he also forced Alfonso XIII to abdicate his kingship. Primo was intended to only serve as leader for ninety days, but Primo never left and he rather established a military dictatorship. Primo’s dictatorship was short lived and he failed to maintain the support of the army, forcing him to resign in 1930 (242). The succeeding government was the Second Spanish Republic, which would soon lose the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco in an attempted coup d’état. The bull represents Spanish culture and brutality amongst it. The bull is a symbol of Spain most famously because of “Las Corridas del Toro” or the Running of the Bulls in the celebrations of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain (Phillips 194). The celebrations are for an honorable Saint Fermin, a Catholic martyr who was beheaded on a preaching voyage to France. These celebrations have been in Spanish culture for centuries which have helped unify and bring together people to revel in their cultural activities. Picasso’s use of the bull in “Guernica” signifies how Spanish culture has been strained and driven to the point of madness. The bull in the painting has an expression of panic as it is turning around to view the horrific tragedy that has occurred. The civil war was fought between the Nationalists and the Republicans (Phillips 253). The right-wing Nationalists were comprised of the Spanish Falange, or the fascist movements, high military leaders, the Catholic Church, and much of the bourgeoisie led by General Francisco Franco. The Republicans, on the other hand, were loyal democrats and supporters of the failed Second Spanish Republic allied with Communists and Anarchists (253). The bull relates to the immorality and viciousness of both sides of the war, as they are all dangerous and destructive, yet all Spanish. However, in the bombing of Guernica, it displays how pitiless it was for the Fascists to bomb the primarily Republican town of Guernica. Franco, being helped with finances and supplies by Hitler, permitted him to practice what would become Blitzkrieg tactics by the Nazis in World War Two. The face of the bull has a sense of shock and humanity to it.
The watchful, humanoid eyes of the bull perhaps suggest the Spanish Nationalists reaction to their victory—a bitter and unnerved reaction. The bull sympathizes the tormented, portrayed by its tongue and raised tail, but does not seem to be the main actor in the bombing, suggesting even more so it is the Spanish Nationalists witnessing Hitler’s brutality. In Carla Gottlieb’s “The Meaning of the Bull and Horse in Guernica,” Gottlieb explains one author’s interpretation of the bull displays “…the cruelty and brutality which overshadow our time…” (106). This interpretation is a broader perspective on the significance of the bull and does not sufficiently describe how this relates to the Spanish people, as the painting itself is extremely specific to a bombardment in a Spanish town.
Picasso’s “Guernica” captures all the turmoil of each political faction and the human impact through the four women depicted in the painting. On the far left, there is a woman screaming in pain while clutching the lifeless body of a child. This image harkens to the Catholic Church icon of the Virgin Mary, albeit tainted by the brutal war. On the far right of the painting, there is a woman screaming while being engulfed in a flaming building. The last two women are just to the left of the woman in the burning building. Both remaining women have vociferous expressions, as if they too are screaming. One woman is carrying a lamp, which is illuminating the destruction and the last woman has a broken and disfigured body.
Why is the woman using an outdated lamp rather than a modern lamp? The symbol of the outdated lamp could characterize the Republicans as not having competitive enough technology to combat the dangerously advanced Nationalist Arsenal. Although the woman has a meager lamp, it remains lit and signifying that their hope cannot be quenched with terrorism. Women were not the ones fighting in the armies of each side, so they represent the helpless victims of the war. The woman who resembles the Virgin and Child (Gottlieb, 111) represents the Catholic Church and its affiliation with the Nationalist powers who are responsible for the suffering in the painting. Moreover, the Virgin is crying upwards towards the bull, which as previously established represents the brutality of the Spanish warheads. The Virgin is losing her “children” who are the Spanish men fighting in the godless war. The other three women on the right of the painting are direct victims of the Guernica bombings, which were primarily Republicans.
In the center of all the turmoil, resides a collapsing horse seemingly bearing the brunt of the aerial destruction.
Horses are and have been companions to man for ages; nevertheless, it is the horse in “Guernica” which is being hunted and destroyed. Picasso’s loyalties lied with the victims of the war and it is known he was not in favor of Franco as he created an etching with an accompanying poem in 1937 called “The Dream and Lie of Franco” (Gottlieb, 110). Understanding Picasso’s devotions is imperative to evaluate the significance of the horse. Gottlieb also describes the horse symbolizing “…the agony of Nationalist Spain” (106). This interpretation differs by focusing the ‘true victims’ of the bombardment being the very people who promote the violence and asked the Nazis to come and bomb Guernica, Spain (Anderson). It is not feasible for Picasso to have been so against the Nationalist government yet make them the victims of his art. Moreover, Petersen describes Picasso’s motivation to create the work, “In a show of hatred for what had transpired, Picasso painted a [huge] mural eleven and a half feet high and twenty-five feet eight inches wide which was meant to protest the war. Though the work was highly controversial, he received tremendous praise for the
effort.”
Below the panicked horse and the irate woman with deceased child lies a broken and maimed statue of a soldier. Spanish civilization existed centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. Having been through countless forms of government, cultures, religions, Spain has acquired a lot of eloquent history. Often, statues are erected in civilizations to commemorate some incredible historical event or significant leader (Gottlieb, 112). The broken statue of the warrior displays what the war has done to Spanish culture—it too is in ruins. No longer were the Spanish representing and praising their significant culture, they had rather centralized their focus on the war (“Spanish Civil War,” George Washington University). Picasso does convey some sense of hope in “Guernica” as there is a flower growing next to the maimed statue. This minute detail signifies an optimistic future, as if, perhaps life will continue even after all the death in the war. After all, when a fire blazes through a forest, life relentlessly returns.
The sun overlooking all the destruction in “Guernica” is a very interesting detail for Picasso to have included. The sun is a typical symbol of what all life on Earth stems from and is the ultimate sign of light and nature. The sun is all powerful. It is not something man can harness or alter, it remains and will be for infinity. Within the sun however, resides a light bulb. The light bulb is man’s attempt at mimicking the sun. It symbolizes modernization and industrialization of nations. The light bulb too has an enormous impact on civilization in terms of productivity and development of society. In the Spanish language, the light bulb translates to “bombilla.” Bombilla is like another word in Spanish: “bomba,” in English it translates to bomb (Gottlieb, 112). So, within the ultimate symbol of life and light exists an artificial one, who’s name resembles that which is causing the turmoil in Guernica, bombs.
Pablo Picasso’s, “Guernica” is truly a fascinating masterpiece for the artistic world. It is a significant marker of the transgressions humanity can impose upon one-another. The many symbols in “Guernica” including the bull, the horse, the four women, the statue and flower, and the sun all tie into Spanish culture and the occurrences and impact of the Spanish Civil War. Spain experienced a very difficult and trying time in the early twentieth century and there are still aftershocks impacting its society today. Through “Guernica,” the impressions from Spanish Civil war can be experienced and learned from to create a better future and prevent horrible repeats of history.