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Kenlee Burton
Mrs. Sutliff
English 4
th
hour
5/13-14/2014
The meaning of the painting Guernica
The symbolism in the painting of Guernica is pain. On April 26, 1937, is when the
undefended town of Guernica, was bombed by their own country. The town of Guernica was
only but an experiment, and in that experiment thousands were established to have been killed
and thousands of others was wounded, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed1).
On April 29
th
, Gorge Steer, a journalist from London, witnessed the bombing and made a
report on this tragic bombing. Pablo Picasso, however, read this report and became very angry as
well as disgusted. In disbelief of this awful news, Picasso had abandoned his original scheme
and began to work on what would now be his most famous painting (eyewitnesstohistory.com
1)
Picasso hated Franco for bombing the unarmed civilians, so, Picasso moved into a new
studio and began the painting of Guernica. The canvas measured to be 3.5x7.8 meters,
(www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 1). In this painting Picasso wanted to paint his
feelings and thoughts of the bombing of Guernica,
(www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed1).
This painting is in black, white, blue, and gray. It is abstract, cubism art piece news
papers suggest that this abstract piece of art is as powerful as the mass media in communicating a
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message, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 1). Pablo Picasso tried to share how he felt
about the bombing. He showed much pain throughout most of the painting.
This painting contains women screaming with one woman crying over what appears to be her
dead child; this resembled the many women that have lost their children to the bombs. In another
part of the painting, there is a woman stretching out from a window with a lamp, hoping in vain
to illuminate the encroaching darkness, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 2) this
resembles the many scared women and elders as well as children that went through this
experience. There are many dead people in this as well, and their faces show hopeless pain and
fear as well as sorrow. The horse in the painting is told to be wounded and a bull that is to create
a profound dramatic tension, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 2) there appears to be
burning buildings as well.
However, There are speculations and thoughts about the true meaning of the symbolism
in the painting Guernica. Some insist that the bull represents brutality or ritual of life and death
epitomized by the bull fighting, while the horse is a metaphor for suffering people, and others
reverse that statement to be the opposite way, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 2).
Another source pbs.org claims sometimes the bull is the symbol of Spain. Sometimes
its the relationship between darkness and light. So the bull could represent a good guy or a bad
guy the light, however, is said to resemble the dazzling eye of a flash bulb used to take photos
in the dark (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 2) one site (wordpress.com 2) stated that
the bulb represents the sun which represents life but it also is told to represent death.
The site wordpress.com also told that the dismembered man at the bottom of the
painting represents the plight of the Guernica residents. One of his arms has an open hand with a
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star drawn on his palm told to be a sign of martyrdom. The other hand clutches a broken sword, a
sign of defeat. The bombing lasted for 3 hours and many people died that day. Picasso wanted
the bombing of Guernica to be remembered forever, and to share his feelings through a master
piece, (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed 2). Seeing this painting may be confusing at
first and it may look weird, but it has a meaning, and again, no one knows what the true meaning
about the people or the bull or the horse in the painting Guernica is, but we know now what this
painting represents all together the bombing of Guernica.












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The sources I used:
Eyewitnesstohistory.com
www.pbs.org
wordpress.com
www.ngv.vic.gov.au/picasso/education/ed