GuernicaIn 1936 the holy city of the Basque people, Guernica, was bombed to the ground on behalf of Fascist Franco by the Hitler’s airforce.

The Lessons of Guernica

A seminal piece of 20th-century artwork which offered a graphic and chilling reminder of the horrors of war used to hang on the second floor of the United Nations building in Manhattan, just outside the Security Council entrance. It is interesting to conjecture why it no longer hangs there.

No image I know captures more powerfully a

mother’s anguish over the death of her child than this

A soldier who has just been

shot?

A speared horse shrieking

A dead soldier

It is interesting to consider the significance of other things such as the light bulb

Engage the audience in an interesting problem

http://davidmhart.com/blog/E20111230163728/index.html

http://davidmhart.com/blog/archives/2011/12/index.html

Pablo Picasso's Guernica happens to be one of my favorite paintings, so I decided to elaborate upon what we learned in class on Thursday. I have circled some of the "hidden" elements of the painting (you might have to click on the image for a full-size version, as the circles are very thin). The red circle around the horse's mouth contains a human skull hidden in plain view. Immediately to the left, in the background of the painting, sits a bird, perhaps a dove, circled in light blue. This symbol of peace juxtaposes with the symbol of death, though its relative obscurity suggests that an end to fighting might still be far off. The dead soldier's arms are circled in violet; they are covered in distinctive scratches and piercings known as stigmata. Stigmata are characteristic of crucifixion wounds, suggesting that the soldier is a martyr of sorts. It is also interesting to note that the broken sword held in the soldier's severed right hand is upside down. Though I do not know if holding a sword in such a way has any traditional symbolic meaning, it is a powerful image that suggests vulnerability. Finally, circled in green, there is the mysterious face of a second bull which emerges from the horse's front leg. Picasso included the horse and bull characters in the painting as symbols of Spain; however, this hidden bull appears much more sinister. Its horn points directly toward the horse's wounded side. The meaning of this face (and of the horse and bull imagery in general) has been much debated by critics. Picasso explicitly declined to comment on the significance of his imagery, and no definitive conclusions have been reached. What do you all think of these elements? What do they mean? Can anybody find other features of the painting that I may have missed?

Blaine said...Very interesting stuff Collin. I believe each element Picasso integrates into the painting has significance. I would like to comment specifically on the light bulb above the horse's head. This bulb takes on the shape of an evil eye. Picasso's intended symbolism is related to the Spanish word "bombilla". A clear allusion to a bomb, this "bombilla" signifies the destructive effects technology can have on society. Also, this eye can be interpreted as the all seeing eye of God. In this instance, Picasso shows God's awareness of the horrors individuals committed during the revolution.February 26, 2011 at 10:04 PMJulia said...Blaine and Collin, I think both of your observations about this painting are fascinating. The anti-war sentiment of this painting reminds me of Goya's Executions of the Third of May- 1808. Both paintings use light imagery and involve violent images to convey the despair caused by war. The lantern in Goya's painting symbolizes the Enlightenment, implying that reason and logic have failed to protect the innocent. Do you all see any other similarities between these two paintings?February 27, 2011 at 4:41 PMSamantha said...Julia, this painting immediately reminded me of Executions of the Third of May- 1808 too. Both paintings were produced by Spanish loyalists outraged by the violence enacted upon Spain by other nations. Goya's painting depicts Napoleon's invasion of Spain in which innocent citizens suffered at the hands of brutal French soldiers. Similarly, Picasso's Guernica exposes the violence caused by the German Air Force's air raid experiment upon the unprotected Basque town of Guernica.February 27, 2011 at 6:06 PMOlivia Celata said...Guernica is one of Picasso's early Cubist works. By forcing nature into geometric forms, cubists created abstract art. Using multiple angles, instead of organic lines, allows the image to appear fragmented. I feel that The Waste Land was also broken up in a similar way. Both works of art seem to send a message to their audience of a fragmented modern world, broken into pieces by ongoing war. So both artists, Picasso and Eliot, could possibly have anti-war sentiments.at 7:31 PM

February 27, 2011 at 8:06 PMJulia said...This comment has been removed by the author.February 28, 2011 at 5:31 PMJulia said...Although this painting is grim and ominous, Picasso includes a subtle symbol of hope with the tiny plant in bloom above the victim's severed arm and broken sword in the bottom center. I think this is an interesting feature of the painting that demonstrates another similarity between this painting and Eliot's The Waste Land. Eliot, like Picasso, includes a somewhat optimistic element to his work of art when he ends his poem with "shantih shantih shantih," a sort of prayer for peace from The Upanishads. We talked in class today about how Eliot may end the poem with "shantih" to suggest a possible solution to escaping the waste land: peace. Though the plant is faint, it symbolizes the possibility of renewal in the seemingly barren, empty landscape of the modern world.February 28, 2011 at 5:32 PMchrissy said...The imagery in Guernica fascinates me. Picasso's sense of perception creates a visually stimulating painting. This huge work's meaning is amazing to me. The fact that the painting is so large is representative of its importance. Guernica was a horrible battle where many innocent people were killed. I think Picasso chose to make it so large to show the horrors of the event. I also really enjoy that Picasso held onto to Guernica before he gave it to Spain until the Spanish Civil War was over.March 2, 2011 at 11:41 AMBryan S. said...What if this was Picasso's way of showing us that Germany invaded, but that Spain's allies were tripping over themselves and taking their time coming to the rescue? First, on the lower center of the right hand side there is a German flag. The person next to the flag whom looks like they are stumbling also has a flag on their back but more interesting they have what appears to be a shark or possibly a submarine in the water. The "eye" in the back ground resembles that of the eye on the American dollar the "all seeing eye" with a burning light bulb resembling that is America's cue to join the war. The white figures that seem to over lap the picture could be Picasso's way of saying that the "knight in Shining Armour" is a Ghost or missing? The "Horse" to me looks like a "Donkey" this time era in Spain horses were not that common but a Donkey was very common.The Center of the picture a donkey also known as a "Jackass" with a bomb/bullet in its mouth symbolizing "biting the bullet" I don't want to sound like a jerk I was just wondering if anyone else saw what I have seen in this picture. Most people look at this and see that it is attached to the bombing and just write it off as that. What if there is much more going on in this picture than what meets the eye? Picasso has always used his illusion in art to "hide" or masque things. Could he have masked his feelings about this event by hiding it in the pictureJanuary 16, 2012 at 7:31 PM

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces on 26 April 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-warsymbol, and an embodiment of peace. Upon completion, Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention.Although mention is frequently made of the painting's "return" to Spain, this is not in fact correct. Guernica was painted in Paris, where it was first exhibited, before being placed in the care of the Museum of Modern Art(MoMA), as it was Picasso's express desire that the painting should not be delivered to Spain until liberty and democracy had been re-established in the country.[1] On its arrival in Spain, in September 1981,[2] it was first displayed behind bomb-and bullet-proof glass screens[3] at the Casón del Buen Retiro in Madrid in time to celebrate the centenary of Picasso's birth, October 24. [2] The exhibition was visited by almost a million people in the first year.[4] Guernica was moved to its current permanent location in a purpose-built gallery at the Museo Reina Sofía in 1992.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)

Picasso, who had last visited Spain in 1934 and would never return, was living in Paris, where he had been named Honorary Director-in-Exile of the Prado Museum in 1936.[1] In January 1937, he was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. However, it was only on May 1, having read George Steer's eyewitness account (originally published in both the The Times and The New York Times on April 28), that he abandoned his initial project and started sketching a series of preliminary drawings for the mural-size painting,[6] and which he would finish in early June 1937.

Guernica is grey, black and white, 3.5 meters high and 7.8 meters wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil. Picasso's purpose in painting it was to bring the world's attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German bombers, who were supporting the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso completed the painting by mid-June 1937.[1] Picasso exhibited his mural-size painting at the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (Paris International Exposition) in the 1937 World's Fair in Paris and then at other venues around the world. The San Francisco Museum of Art (later SFMOMA) gave the work its first public, free appearance in the United States from 27 August – 19 September 1939. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City then mounted an important Picasso exhibition on 15 November 1939 that remained on view until 7 January 1940, entitled: Picasso: 40 Years of His Art, that was organized by Alfred H. Barr (1902–1981), in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition contained 344 works, including Guernicaand its studies.[7]

Guernica shows suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos.The overall scene is within a room where, at an open end on the left, a wide-eyed bull stands over a woman grieving over a dead child in her arms.The centre is occupied by a horse falling in agony as it had just been run through by a spear or javelin. The large gaping wound in the horse's side is a major focus of the painting.Two "hidden" images formed by the horse appear in Guernica:

A human skull overlays the horse's body.A bull appears to gore the horse from underneath. The bull's head is formed mainly by the horse's entire front leg which has the knee on the ground. The leg's knee cap forms the head's nose. A horn appears within the horse's breast.

The bull's tail forms the image of a flame with smoke rising from it, seemingly appearing in a window created by the lighter shade of gray surrounding it.Under the horse is a dead, apparently dismembered soldier; his hand on a severed arm still grasps a shattered sword from which a flower grows.On the open palm of the dead soldier is a stigma, a symbol of martyrdom derived from the stigmata of Christ.A light bulb blazes in the shape of an evil eye over the suffering horse's head (the bare bulb of the torturer's cell). Picasso's intended symbolism in regards to this object is related to the Spanish word for lightbulb; "bombilla", which is similar to the word "bomba" for bomb in Spanish.To the upper right of the horse, a frightened female figure, who seems to be witnessing the scenes before her, appears to have floated into the room through a window. Her arm, also floating in, carries a flame-lit lamp. The lamp is positioned very close to the bulb, and is a symbol of hope, clashing with the lightbulb.From the right, an awe-struck woman staggers towards the center below the floating female figure. She looks up blankly into the blazing light bulb.Daggers that suggest screaming replace the tongues of the bull, grieving woman, and horse.A dove, holding an olive branch is scribed on the wall behind the bull. Part of its body comprises a crack in the wall through which bright light (hope, or the outside world) can be seen.On the far right, a figure with arms raised in terror is entrapped by fire from above and below. The right hand of the man suggests the shape of an airplane.A dark wall with an open door defines the right end of the mural.

Interpretations of Guernica vary widely and contradict one another. This extends, for example, to the mural's two dominant elements: the bull and the horse. Art historian Patricia Failing said, "The bull and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture. Picasso himself certainly used these characters to play many different roles over time. This has made the task of interpreting the specific meaning of the bull and the horse very tough. Their relationship is a kind of ballet that was conceived in a variety of ways throughout Picasso's career."When pressed to explain them in Guernica, Picasso said,...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.[9]

In "The Dream and Lie of Franco," a series of narrative sketches also created for the World's Fair, Franco is depicted as a monster that first devours his own horse and later does battle with an angry bull. Work on these illustrations began before the bombing of Guernica, and four additional panels were added, three of which relate directly to the Guernica mural.Picasso said as he worked on the mural: "The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death? ... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death."[10]

However, according to scholar Beverly Ray[11] the following list of interpretations reflects the general consensus of historians:

The shape and posture of the bodies express protest.Picasso uses black, white, and grey paint to set a somber mood and express pain and chaos.Flaming buildings and crumbling walls not only express the destruction of Guernica, but reflect the destructive power of civil war.The newspaper print used in the painting reflects how Picasso learned of the massacre.The light bulb in the painting represents the sun.The broken sword near the bottom of the painting symbolizes the defeat of the people at the hand of their tormentors. (Berger 1980; Chipp 1988)[11]

In drawing attention to a number of preliminary studies, the so-called primary project, [12]

 that show an atelier installation incorporating the central triangular shape which reappears in the final version of Guernica, Becht-Jördens and Wehmeier interpret the painting as a self-referential composition in the tradition of atelier paintings such as Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. In his chef d'oeuvre, Picasso seems to be trying to define his role and his power as an artist in the face of political power and violence. But far from being a mere political painting, Guernica should be seen as Picasso’s comment on what art can actually contribute towards the self-assertion that liberates every human being and protects the individual against overwhelming forces such as political crime, war, and death.[13]

See also: Spanish Civil War and Spanish Civil War, 1937Guernica is a town in the province of Biscay in Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, it was regarded as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the epicenter of Basque culture, adding to its significance as a target. [14]

The Republican forces were made up of assorted factions (Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, to name a few) with wildly differing approaches to government and eventual aims, but a common opposition to the Nationalists. The Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, were also factionalized but to a lesser extent. They sought a return to the golden days of Spain, based on law, order, and traditional Catholic family values. [15]

At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler, had lent material support to the Nationalists and allowed for the evolution of German fighter and bomber doctrines. Later, intense aerial bombardment became a crucial preliminary step in the Blitzkrieg tactic.[11][14]

In his journal for 30 April 1937, von Richthofen wrote:When the first Junkers squadron arrived, there was smoke already everywhere (from the VB [VB/88] which had attacked with 3 aircraft); nobody would identify the targets of roads, bridge, and suburb, and so they just dropped everything right into the center. The 250s toppled a number of houses and destroyed the water mains. The incendiaries now could spread and become effective. The materials of the houses: tile roofs, wooden porches, and half-timbering resulted in complete annihilation. Most inhabitants were away because of a holiday; a majority of the rest left town immediately at the beginning [of the bombardment]. A small number perished in shelters that were hit."[16]

This account contains striking discrepancies from other accounts that state that the town's inhabitants were in fact congregated in the center of town, as it was market day, and when the bombardment commenced, were unable to escape the inferno because the roads leading out of the center of the town were full of debris and the bridges leading out of town had been destroyed.Guernica's location was at a major crossroads 10 kilometers from the front lines and between the front lines and Bilbao, the capital of Bizkaia. Any Republican retreat towards Bilbao and any Nationalist advance towards Bilbao had to pass through Guernica. "During 25 April, many of the demoralized (Republican) troops from Marquina fell back on Guernica, which lay 10 kilometers behind the lines."[17] Wolfram von Richthofen's war diary entry for 26 April 1937 states, "K/88 [the Condor Legion bomber force] was targeted at Guernica in order to halt and disrupt the Red withdrawal which has to pass through here." Under the German concept of tactical bombing, areas that were routes of transportation and troop movement were considered to be legitimate military targets, and tactical aircraft tended to operate just outside the range of friendly artillery; in the German mindset, Guernica was thus a major target in support of the Republican offensive.

The following day, Richthofen wrote in his war diary, "Guernica burning."[18] The Republican retreat towards Bilbao did pass through Guernica, before and after the bombing, and, as Beevor points out, "At Guernica the communist Rosa Luxemburg Battalion under Major Cristobal held back the nationalists for a time".[18]

Guernica was a quiet village. The nearest military target of any consequence was a factory on the outskirts of the town, which manufactured various war products. The factory went through the attack unscathed. Thus, the motivation of the bombing was clearly one of intimidation. Furthermore, a majority of the town's men were away as they were fighting on behalf of the Republicans. Thus, the town at the time of the bombing was populated mostly by women and children.[19]

These demographics are reflected in the painting because, as Rudolf Arnheim writes, for Picasso: "The women and children make Guernica the image of innocent, defenseless humanity victimized. Also, women and children have often been presented by Picasso as the very perfection of mankind. An assault on women and children is, in Picasso's view, directed at the core of mankind." Clearly, the Nationalists sought to demoralize the Republicans and the civilian population as a whole by demonstrating their military might on a town that stood for traditional Basque culture and innocent civilians. [14]

After the bombing, it was through the work of the Basque and Republican sympathizer and The Times journalist George Steer that propelled this event onto the international scene and brought it to Pablo Picasso's attention. Steer, who rushed to town, compiled his observations into an article that was published on 28 April in both The Times and The New York Times, and which on the 29th, appeared in L'Humanité, a French Communist daily. Steer wrote:Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of three types of German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers, did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1,000 lbs. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to machinegun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in the fields." [19]

It was through this article that Picasso was made aware of what had gone on in his country of origin. At the time, he was working on a mural for the Paris Exhibition to be held in the summer of 1937, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government. He deserted his original idea and on 1 May 1937, began on Guernica. This captivated his imagination unlike his previous idea, on which he had been working somewhat dispassionately, for a couple of months. It is interesting to note, however, that at its unveiling at the Paris Exhibition that summer, it garnered little attention. It would later attain its power as such a potent symbol of the destruction of war on innocent lives.[11][19]

Exhibition[edit]1937 Paris International Exhibition[edit]Guernica was initially exhibited in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition.[20] The Pavilion, which was financed by the Spanish Republican government at the time of civil war, was built to exhibit the Spanish government's struggle for existence contrary to the Exposition's technology theme. The Pavilion's entrance presented an enormous photographic mural of Republican soldiers accompanied by the slogan:We are fighting for the essential unity of Spain.We are fighting for the integrity of Spanish soil.We are fighting for the independence of our country and forthe right of the Spanish people to determine their own destiny.The display of Guernica was accompanied by a poem by Paul Éluard, and the pavilion displayed The Reaper by Joan Miró and Mercury Fountain by Alexander Calder, both of whom were sympathetic to the Republican cause.The public's reaction to Guernica was mixed.[21] Some Marxist groups criticized the work as lacking in political commitment and faulted it for not offering a vision of a better future. [22] The art critic Clement Greenberg was also critical, but for different reasons. [23] In a later essay, Greenberg termed Guernica "jerky" and "too compressed for its size", and compared it unfavorably to the "magnificently lyrical" The Charnel House (1944–48), a later antiwar painting by Picasso.[24]

Among the painting's admirers were the art critic Jean Cassou and the poet José Bergamín, both of whom praised the painting as quintessentially Spanish. [25] Michel Leiris perceived in the painting a foreshadowing: "On a black and white canvas that depicts ancient tragedy ... Picasso also writes our letter of doom: all that we love is going to be lost..." [26]

European tour[edit]Guernica, for which Picasso was paid Fr200,000 for his costs by the Spanish Republican government, was one of the few major paintings which were not sold direct from artist to his exclusive contracted art dealer and friend, Paul Rosenberg.[27]

However, posts its exhibition Rosenberg organised a four-man extravaganza Scandinavian tour of 118 works by Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Henri Laurens. The main attraction was Guernica, and from January to April 1938 the tour visited Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Götenborg. In September 1938 the painting travelled to England, exhibited in London's Whitechapel Art Gallery organized by Roland Penrose with Clement Attlee, where it arrived on 30 September 1938, the same day the Munich Agreement was signed by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It then travelled onwards to Leeds, Liverpool and in early 1939 Manchester. There, Manchester Foodship For Spain, a group of artists and activists engaged in sending aid to the people of Spain, exhibited the painting in the HE Nunn & Co Ford automobile showroom for two weeks.[28] It then returned briefly to France.After the victory of Francisco Franco in Spain, the painting was sent to the United States to raise funds and support for Spanish refugees. At Picasso's request the safekeeping of the piece was entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. It formed the centerpiece of a Picasso retrospective at MoMA which opened six weeks after the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.[1][29]

Between 1939 and 1952, the painting traveled extensively in the United States; between 1953 and 1956 it was shown in Brazil, at the first-ever Picasso retrospective in Milan, Italy, and then in numerous other major European cities, before returning to MoMA for a retrospective celebrating Picasso's seventy-fifth birthday. It then went on to Chicago and Philadelphia. By this time, concern for the state of the painting resulted in a decision to keep it in one place: a room on MoMA's third floor, where it was accompanied by several of Picasso's preliminary studies and some of Dora Maar's photos. The studies and photos were often loaned for other exhibitions, but until 1981, Guernica itself remained at MoMA.[1]

While living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, one German officer allegedly asked him, upon seeing a photo of Guernica in his apartment, "Did you do that?" Picasso responded, "No, you did."[30]

During the Vietnam War, the room containing the painting became the site of occasional anti-war vigils. These were usually peaceful and uneventful, but on 28 February 1974, Tony Shafrazi – ostensibly protesting Second Lieutenant William Calley's petition for habeas corpus following his indictment and sentencing for the murder of 109 Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre – defaced the painting with red spray paint, painting the words "KILL LIES ALL"; the paint was removed with relative ease from the varnished surface.[29]

As early as 1968, Franco had expressed an interest in having Guernica return to Spain.[1] However, Picasso refused to allow this until the Spanish people again enjoyed a republic. He later added other conditions, such as the restoration of "public liberties and democratic institutions". Picasso died in 1973. Franco, ten years Picasso's junior, died two years later, in 1975. After Franco's death, Spain was transformed into a democratic constitutional monarchy, ratified by a new constitution in 1978. However, MoMA was reluctant to give up one of their greatest treasures and argued that a monarchy did not represent the republic that had been stipulated in Picasso's will as a condition for the painting's return. Under great pressure from a number of observers, MoMA finally ceded the painting to Spain in 1981. The Spanish historian Javier Tusell was one of the negotiators.During the 1970s, it was a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Franco regime and of Basque nationalism. The Basque left has repeatedly used imagery from the picture.A tiled wall in Gernika claims "Guernica" Gernikara, "The Guernica (painting) to Gernika."In 1992, the painting was moved from the Museo del Prado to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, both in Madrid, along with about two dozen preparatory works. This action was controversial in Spain, since Picasso's will stated that the painting should be displayed at the Prado.However, the move was part of a transfer of all of the Prado's collections of art after the early 19th century to other nearby buildings in the city for reasons of space; the Reina Sofía, which houses the capital's national collection of 20th-century art, was the natural place to move it to. A special gallery was built at the Reina Sofía to display Picasso's masterpiece to best advantage.When first displayed in Spain, the painting was placed at the Casón del Buen Retiro, an annex to the Prado that housed early 19th-century paintings and had a large enough wall for the huge canvas. It was kept behind bullet-proof glass and guarded with machine guns. However, since that time there has never been any attempted vandalism or other security threat to the painting. At its present gallery, the painting has roughly the same protection as any other work at the Reina Sofía.[31]

Basque nationalists have advocated that the picture should be brought to the Basque country,[32] especially after the building of the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum. Officials at the Reina Sofía claim[33] that the canvas is now thought to be too fragile to move. Even the staff of the Guggenheim do not see a permanent transfer of the painting as possible, although the Basque government continues to support the possibility of a temporary exhibition in Bilbao.[31]

At the United Nations[edit]A tapestry copy of Picasso's Guernica was displayed on the wall of the United Nations Building in New York City at the entrance to the Security Council room from 1985 to 2009. It was commissioned in 1955 by Nelson Rockefeller, since Picasso refused to sell him the original.[34] The tapestry was placed on loan to the United Nations by the Rockefeller estate in 1985.[35] The tapestry is less monochromatic than the original and uses several shades of brown.On 5 February 2003 a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work at the UN, so that it would not be visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United Nations.[36] On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Some diplomats, however, in talks with journalists claimed that the Bush Administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other US diplomats argued for war on Iraq. [37] In a critique of the covering, columnist Alejandro Escalona hypothesized that Guernica’s "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", while referring to the work as "an inconvenient masterpiece." [8]

On 17 March 2009, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Marie Okabe announced that the Guernica tapestry had been moved to a gallery in London in advance of extensive renovations at UN Headquarters. The Guernica tapestry was the showcase piece for the grand reopening of the Whitechapel Gallery. It was located in the 'Guernica room' which was originally part of the old Whitechapel Library.[38] As of 2012 the tapestry is on temporary loan to the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas for an indefinite period from the Rockefeller family.[39]

No image I know captures more movingly a mother’s pain and anguish over the death of her child than this

But as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sat down last week to deliver an historic speech about why America must go to war with Iraq, Pablo Picasso's Guernica was concealed by a large blue drape.

To twist an old axiom, those who ignore the horrors of history — or cover them up — are doomed to repeat them.

But as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sat down last week to deliver an historic speech about why America must go to war with Iraq, Pablo Picasso's Guernica was concealed by a large blue drape.

To twist an old axiom, those who ignore the horrors of history — or cover them up — are doomed to repeat them.

"The game is over," President George W. Bush declared, just 24 hours after Powell's presentation failed to sway doubtful U.N. Security Council members.

GuernicaIn 1936 the holy city of the Basque people, Guernica, was bombed to the ground on behalf of Franco’s fascist by the German airforce.

'Profound symbolism' as U.N. hides Picasso's anti-war masterpiece for Colin Powell's UN address prior to the invasion of Iraq

The holy city of the Basque people, Guernica, is bombed to the ground by German Legion Condor airplanes. It was the market day and the town was full with civilians. The retreating Basque Army took shelter there. The Bombing was aimed at the whole city, not only at the military objects.

The Lessons of Guernica

'Profound symbolism' as U.N. hides Picasso's anti-war masterpiece for Colin Powell's call to arms Bush's `game over' remark makes it definite: U.S. will attackby William Walker UNITED NATIONS—On the second floor of the United Nations building in Manhattan, just outside the Security Council entrance, hangs a seminal piece of 20th-century artwork that offers a graphic and chilling reminder of the horrors of war. A copy of Picasso's Guernica serves as a mute rebuttal to a pair of pro-war demonstrators calling for U.S. action against Saddam Hussein outside United Nations' headquarters in New York on Wednesday. (Photo/Graham Morrison)

Guernica

The holy city of the Basque people, Guernica, is bombed to the ground by German Legion Condor airplanes. It was the market day and the town was full with civilians. The retreating Basque Army took shelter there. The Bombing was aimed at the whole city, not only at the military objects.The first Fascist pilot to bomb the city is German Army Major Rudolf von Moreau, flying a Heinkel 111. After him wave after wave of airplanes, close to three hours of bombing. They are also "testing" a new kind of firebomb.The Fascists, first being very proud of their doings, realize very fast that the world reacts shocked. Being dependent on the foreign help (unlimited oil on credit by the US American Texas Oil Company for example), they soon spread the tale that the retreating Basque Army destroyed the city themselves.

The Lessons of Guernica

'Profound symbolism' as U.N. hides Picasso's anti-war masterpiece for Colin Powell's call to arms Bush's `game over' remark makes it definite: U.S. will attackby William Walker UNITED NATIONS—On the second floor of the United Nations building in Manhattan, just outside the Security Council entrance, hangs a seminal piece of 20th-century artwork that offers a graphic and chilling reminder of the horrors of war. A copy of Picasso's Guernica serves as a mute rebuttal to a pair of pro-war demonstrators calling for U.S. action against Saddam Hussein outside United Nations' headquarters in New York on Wednesday. (Photo/Graham Morrison)

But as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell sat down last week to deliver an historic speech about why America must go to war with Iraq, Pablo Picasso's Guernica was concealed by a large blue drape.

To twist an old axiom, those who ignore the horrors of history — or cover them up — are doomed to repeat them.

"The game is over," President George W. Bush declared, just 24 hours after Powell's presentation failed to sway doubtful U.N. Security Council members.

The Lessons of Guernica

'Profound symbolism' as U.N. hides Picasso's anti-war masterpiece for Colin Powell's call to arms Bush's `game over' remark makes it definite: U.S. will attackby William Walker UNITED NATIONS—On the second floor of the United Nations building in Manhattan, just outside the Security Council entrance, hangs a seminal piece of 20th-century artwork that offers a graphic and chilling reminder of the horrors of war. A copy of Picasso's Guernica serves as a mute rebuttal to a pair of pro-war demonstrators calling for U.S. action against Saddam Hussein outside United Nations' headquarters in New York on Wednesday. (Photo/Graham Morrison)