Guernica Pablo Picasso Meaning

Guernica by Pablo Picasso is an immediate response of an artist to an inhuman act of bombarding the Basque capital by German Nazis. The fact that this art piece relates to a real event in the history emphasizes its importance and the message it conveys. Picasso used a lot of symbols to convey the message hidden behind his art. One of the symbol is the electric light bulb which shines on the figures in the painting. The electric light bulb has a shape of an eye and it symbolizes that the world is being shown its inhumanity. People's heads represent witnesses who are shocked with the suffering and pain. Fallen soldier with the broken sword represent the resistance against the tyranny. The symbolism used by Picasso allows viewers to interpret
the art work in different ways, but at the same time enables Picasso to emphasize the message he tries to convey in this art work. The painting is an immediate response to an event that emotionally impacted Picasso which can be noticed in the structure of the painting. The figures on the painting are in random positions, and there is no symmetry or repetitive patterns, rather than that chaos is prevalent in the painting. The structure of the painting relates to its context. It directly appeals to the attack of Nazis, which also mostly consisted of chaos and panic. I think that despite the fact that Picasso's work was performed under the pressure of emotions, fear, and shock, he still managed to hide the meaning with the use of symbol and express his discontent with the act of Nazis.