Why it matters
Regarded by many critics as the most moving anti-war painting in history, Guernica was Picasso's response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica on 26 April 1937. In a huge canvas of greys, blacks and whites, a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, a dead child and a dismembered soldier express the suffering caused by war.
Did you know?
- Picasso had been working on an artist's-studio theme for the commission until he read an eyewitness report of the bombing and abandoned it.
- The canvas is 3.49 metres tall and 7.76 metres wide.
- It was first shown in the Spanish pavilion of the 1937 Paris International Exposition, then toured to raise funds for Spanish war relief.
Based on the Wikipedia article Guernica (Picasso) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
