Guernica Picasso Analysis

The first painting in consideration is Picasso’s 1937 oil painting, “Guernica.” Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish republican government, to paint a piece for the 1937’s world fair. Picasso’s piece was the cubism work, Guernica, an anti-war painting in response to the bombings of Guernica the 26th of April 1937. Deciphering this piece is not an easy feat, the black and white and gray colors give off a gloomy feel, death and commotion are apparent in this painting. The space is compressed and full with the many shifting perspectives, this piece gives off a feeling of alertness. Even though the work is very busy and seemingly disorganized, in closer look there is some balance in the work. If we go from left to right, the figures centralized are stable by a large triangle of light. The figures to the sides are in commotion, emotions running wild. The piece can be hard to understand and grasp if you look at it in full, but if you break it into smaller pieces some sense can be made of it. The very far left there is a
Picasso’s work is a cubism work as Van Gogh’s is a post impressionism work. Van Gogh used bright color in his work to bring the piece alive, Picasso however uses black, white and grey to give his work a serious sad feel to it. Van Gogh forms things such as the tree and the village so we know what they are when looking at them. In Picasso’s work we see the faces and thing in the picture but have to take a closer look to really understand what we are looking at compared to Van Gogh’s painting. Van Gogh uses space well as everything is laid out and has its place, in Picasso’s piece everything is compressed and close together overlapping multiple things at once. The meaning of both of the painting is really up the viewer’s interoperation, the meanings aren’t really clear. Both paintings are well done and are both notable pieces of the artist’s