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painting has complete darkness
in the background and the images
are painted in the broken form.
On the top of the painting is
a bulb of light in the shape
of the human eye, there are
two animal images which are
bull and the horse. Similarly
there is also a confident human
face and the other images are
the broken organs of the human
body, some of the human images
are already dead and some others
are expressing agony and pain.
There are also some marks like
the script but they cannot be
properly read.
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Even
the broken hands have
some weapons and they
look like the blunt
domestic weapons. This
painting is based on
realism which is related
to an event in a city
of Spain called Guernica.
Before the Second World
War, Spain was ruled
by the Spanish dictators
who were the followers
of the Nazi totalitalian
political theory in
Germany over the authority
of Hitler. In 1937 when
Spain was facing the
civil war, the Spanish
dictators requested
Hitler to surpass the
civil war so that Hitler
sent his army in Spain
and one mid-night the
army of Hitler attacked
the city of Guernica
which was bombarded
with in the single night.
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The
whole city was destroyed, thousands
of people were killed and the
remaining were very badly injured.
The next morning the news papers
published the news story on
the destruction of Guernica.
Pablo Picasso made this painting
by reading the news story related
to the destruction. After this
painting was finished, it was
kept in his painting studio
and one of the Nazi officers
visited the studio who saw the
painting and asked Picasso,
“Did you do this?” Picasso is
said to be replied, “No I didn’t
you did it.” The painting is
realistic in the sense that
it is the reflection of the
reality in the most probable
way because the background darkness
symbolizes the darkness of the
midnight when destruction was
carried out; it also symbolizes
the brutality of the rulers
and the army. The animals are
also meaningful, the bull is
related to the Spanish culture
of bull fighting on the one
hand and on the other hand both
animal images is the under statement
of the army who are compared
with the animals to suggest
their animalistic senselessness
and passion. The bulb of light
on the top suggests Hitler is
curiously looking the destruction
and the confident face is the
face of the ruler who commanded
this destruction.
The
broken human images realistically
reflect the agony and pain of
the innocent people, the blunt
domestic weapons on the broken
hands suggest their defensive
strategy which was completely
powerless in front of the powerful
bombs. The script or the marks
used in the painting suggests
the base of the news story as
Picasso made this painting by
reading the newspaper related
to the destruction. It is said
that it took six months to Picasso
to complete this painting. The
painting has the style of cubism
which is the way of painting
images in the broken structure
using the geometrical shapes.
There are also some contrasts
use in the painting such as
the contrasts used in the painting
such as the contrast between
brutality and innocent, humans
and animals, living and dead,
darkness and light as well as
color and script.
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