 PICASSO'S
GUERNICA
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was
born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He started to paint at the age of ten.
During his lifetime, he created around 22,000 works of art, in areas
including not only painting, but also sculpture, ceramics, mosaics,
stage design and graphic art. He was involved in or inspired many
movements in modern art. He died in France in 1973. Let's have a closer
look at one of his most significant paintings, "El Guernica."
Guernica is a town in
the Basque region of Spain. On April 27, 1937, the city was attacked
from the air by German and Italian forces during the Spanish Civil War.
The bombardment was directed towards civilians and obviously had the
intent of producing total destruction. The attack took place on a market
day, when there were many people in the area. The town's estimated
population was more than 5,000 plus numerous war refugees. At the end of
the bombardment, three-quarters of the city was destroyed. Hundreds of
civilians were dead, mostly old people, women and children. Picasso, who
was in Paris at the time, learned of the massacre on May 1. While the
Parisians were protesting this inhuman attack, he went to his studio and
started to paint "El Guernica." In the painting, Picasso clearly showed
the consequences of the attack. Looking at it, you can see the violence
that was done on that day. The choice of color--just black and white--
and the wretched figures of people and animals take you so deeply into
this terrible scene that you can almost hear the screams for help.
"El Guernica" was first
shown at the Spanish Pavilion in Paris and then elsewhere in Europe and
in North America, raising awareness of the consequences of war and
violence. Picasso created this painting 68 years ago. I'm sure he knew
that there would still be wars in the future, but I'm not sure he
realized that people would be so indifferent. Back then, as the news
about Guernica spread, people gathered in Paris until there were about a
million protesters on the streets. Today, wars are taking place every
day, in countries all over the world, resulting in thousands of deaths.
Yet, we just sit and watch this on TV or read about it in the newspaper
without reacting, as if it were an ordinary event. It's as if most of us
have become emotionless robots that simply breathe and do our jobs.
Maybe it's time to awaken from this robotic state and see the chaos
that's going on. Have a nice week.
Sıla Türkü Kural (EE/III)
turku@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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