In
January 1937, Picasso was asked by Republican Spain to produce a
painting for the Paris World Exposition. It would be his first
commissioned work and—somewhat unusually for him at the time—would be
overtly political. Picasso’s role as a representative of his native
Spain was meant to bring the world’s attention to the coming danger of
fascism—the country’s future hung in the balance as General Francisco
Franco and his fascist army threatened to defeat the Spanish Republic
and take over the country. Nonetheless, with weeks left before he was to
deliver, Picasso remained without inspiration. That changed on April
27.
For three hours the town of Gernika—as it is known to its native Basque
population—was destroyed by dozens of German and Italian bombers on loan
to Franco. More than 1,500 civilians were killed in a savage act of war
unparalleled in European history.
What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only his eyes if
he's a painter, or ears if he's a musician, or a lyre at every level of
his heart if he's a poet, or even, if he's a boxer, just his muscles? On
the contrary, he's at the same time a political being, constantly alive
to heartrending, fiery, or happy events, to which he responds in every
way. How would it be possible to feel no interest in other people and by
virtue of an ivory indifference to detach yourself from the life which
they copiously bring you? No, painting is not done to decorate
apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against
the enemy.
Picasso's mural is now also inescapably linked to the US-led war in
Iraq. In February 2003, Colin Powel spoke about going to war in Iraq at
the United Nations Security Council. There was a press conference
scheduled afterwards. A tapestry reproduction of Guernica
located outside the entrance of the Council Room was covered with a blue
curtain. UN officials claimed the mural was a distracting background
for the TV cameras covering the press conference. Its unappealing ménage
of mutilated bodies and distorted faces proved to be too strong for
articulating to the world why the US was going to war in Iraq. Guernica
became an inconvenient masterpiece.
