Guernica
Dublin Core
Title
Guernica
Subject
Cubism; Surrealism; Spanish civil war.
Description
The complex composition, with Picasso’s characteristic Cubist figures and disquieting representation of space, was not easy to read. A braying horse occupies the painting’s centre, stumbling over its fallen rider sprawled below and lit by the spiked rays of a light bulb above. A bellowing bull on the left seems to encompass a wailing mother with her child laying slack in her arms. A ghostly figure emerges from an opening to the right, holding a gaslight, while a woman closer to the foreground hangs her arms in despair. Farther back, flames and possibly ruins consume a howling figure. The dramatic subject is subdued, painted in the grisaille technique, a method using a neutral monochrome palette.
Creator
Picasso, Pablo
Source
Material: Oil on canvas
Measurements: 349,3 x 776,6 cm
Measurements: 349,3 x 776,6 cm
Date
1937
Contributor
Ballester-Clemente, Irina
Rights
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.
Format
Image/JPEG
Type
Still Image
Identifier
spain_picasso_1937_2
Collection
Citation
Picasso, Pablo, “Guernica,” The Latin American Surrealist Digital Library, accessed December 29, 2024, https://lis5472.cci.fsu.edu/sp21/group4/items/show/44.