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welcome back to smart art history this
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week we cover Picasso cubism and the
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Nazis bombing Spain so before we dive
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into the painting let's take a quick
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look at the man behind it all Pablo
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Picasso was the most dominant and
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influential artist of the first half of
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the 20th century associated most with
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being one of the pioneers of cubism he
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also invented collage made major
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contributions to symbolism and
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surrealism this is an important point
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that we take into consideration when
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analyzing any of his works unlike
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Magritte who we discussed last week
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Picasso saw himself above all else as a
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painter that being said his sculpture
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was greatly influential and he also
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explored areas as diverse as printmaking
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and ceramics finally he was a famously
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charismatic personality his many
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relationships with women not only
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filtered into his art but also may have
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directed its course and his behaviors
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has come to embody Dada a bohemian
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modern artist the what is primarily
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perplexing about Picasso's body of work
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to most people outside of the art world
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as why is he so famous what was it about
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Picasso's work that makes people all
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around the world feel so alone why do
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professional art critics continue to
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insist on his status as the influential
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artist even though most people seem to
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think his work on this into a
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five-year-old's wall drawings after they
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found the frame with you hid away but
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comes back to what we said earlier you
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make major contributions to symbolism
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it's realism above all else these two
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points are most important in doing any
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causes paintings we touched a little
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when surrealism last week and we'll go
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into more detail in the near future but
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for now just remember that surrealism is
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intentionally abstract it was a counter
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movement to realism and many artists
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used it as a tool to get you to better
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understand the emotion of a scene
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without getting bogged down by the
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actual things within the scene itself
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that being said let's move into
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Picasso's amazing use of symbolism it
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may seem an odd combination at first to
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play specific items with them seeing
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help portray a message when at the same
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time you want people to avoid focusing
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on any specific object within it though
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the castle was a master of threatening
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that behind and his work within cubism
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was a definite reason as to why in
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cubist artwork objects are analyzed
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broken up and reassembled in an abstract
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form this allows Picasso the ability to
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use a surrealist view to emphasize the
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emotion of painting first and formal
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while still having people be able to
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recognize and analyze the scene and what
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is meant by it
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now with all that being said let's take
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a look at one of my personal favorites
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and one Picasso's most notable works
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Guernica though it may look chaotic and
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difficult to decipher it first
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Guernica is actually a moving piece of
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art that tells a powerful story about
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the Spanish Civil War the two most
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striking features of the painting when
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you first see it are first its size and
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second the use of color or rather lack
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thereof where it has almost a full
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neural stretching over twenty five and a
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half feet long and standing over eleven
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and half be high this aids its depiction
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of suffering caused by war because of
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its ability to tower over you would
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engulf your whole field of vision
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it's unique use of monochromatic scale
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specifically that of black and white
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also helps to further convey the
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anti-war message though before we dive
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into symbolism behind the painting let's
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first take a look at the historical
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context surrounding it on April 26 1937
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the Spanish nationalist government had
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its allies Nazi Germany bomb Guernica a
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town in northern Spain the number of
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victims of the attack are still disputed
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though is estimated to be as high as
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1600 people killed
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there were also claims that the city was
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vacant of all eligible fighters as
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they'd already signed up to fight at the
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front lines
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Civil War and so the bombing was
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committed against primarily women and
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children and the elderly picasa was
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commissioned by the spanish republican
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government to create a large mural for
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the spanish his wife in 1937 World's
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Fair in Paris his initial sketches for
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the project were somewhat dispassionate
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however shortly after reading an
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eyewitness account of the bombing
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Picasso was moved to shift his subject
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after 35 days of work he had finished
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his painting now let's walk through the
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mural one piece at a time and take a
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look at Picasso's use of symbolism as it
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pertained to his anti-war message first
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off to the far left we see a bull
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depicted with a dark body and a white
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head the expression it wears is one of
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shock most likely caused by the horror
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surrounding him Picasso himself had said
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that the animal was placed there to
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further signify the brutality and
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darkness underneath the image of the
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bull sits a woman clutching a dead child
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her head facing this guy in English she
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cries out her eyes in the shape of Tears
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this image was meant to resemble the
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plastic Catholic image of the Virgin
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child albeit tainted by war working away
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further down still we see a dead soldier
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on the ground the soldier however does
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not have Pinkley body but I've had a
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series of disjointed parts strewn about
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the floor we can see his head and
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and one arm he carries a broken sword
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and the other he carries a flower this
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is an important point that we'll come
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back to soon above it all is a light
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bulb the symbolism of this particular
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item is somewhat debated amongst
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scholars but it is widely believed to
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have multiple meanings first it is
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intentionally shaped like an eye and its
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positioning at the top of the painting
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leads many to believe that it's dog's
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eye as he overlooks the madness and
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destruction quelled by war it is also
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believed to be a symbol of technological
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advancement as it is placed immediately
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next to an oil lamp this comparison is
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particularly striking as a large part of
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the reason that not to germinate Italy
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both agreed to bomb Guernica was for a
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chance to test out their newly created
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equipment a live setting finally if you
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learn Spanish in Spain you would find
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that the word for bulb bombilla is very
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similar to the word for bomb bomba
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which would also go towards explaining
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its position at the top of the painting
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situated at the center of it all we find
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a horse appearing as though it's about
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to collapse and in some way wounded we
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can only make out the horse's head as it
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gazes out in the forest of war the rest
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of its body is overlapped by other
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images which in turn form more images
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such as a human skull down now to the
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bottom-right corner where we see a woman
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with an injured leg she is bleeding from
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the knee and trying to stop the bleeding
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with her hand above her we see a man
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leading to the sky perhaps two gone
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the German plane as he does so the
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building continues to burn and crumble
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around it has come to be a powerful
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artistic representation of the anti-war
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feel you've given across the mural
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finally we come to a woman with an oil
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lamp her face appearing to be one of
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shopping bewilderment
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she has been considered the ghostly
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representation of the Spanish Republic
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taking all these elements into account
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it is simple to see the anti-war message
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that was clearly intended by the artist
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as your eye flows through the painting
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the destruction death mutilation
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suffering are very clear though
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Picasso whether intentionally or not
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included one more element into his
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painting much like the bottom of
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Pandora's Box if we look deep enough
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into this mural we can find hope let's
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take a look at three small elements
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somewhat hidden in all of the commotion
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the first was the flower at the dead
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soldiers hand it is an odd choice to
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place there as soldiers are not known
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for carrying bouquets into battle and
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also considering the broken swords and
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soldiers at their hand the simple little
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flower sends a clear message of peace to
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come though it is not very discerning
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the flower in the soldiers hand
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resembles a white poppy flower ever
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since the end of World War one poppies
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have traditionally symbolized peace and
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the end in remembrance of war
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the second was a small bird between the
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bull and horse it is not a very clear
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symbol as it appears to be just a flash
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of light though in the Catholic Church
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the Holy Spirit is often represented as
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a white dove this leads many to believe
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the bird is a symbol for the Holy Spirit
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beginning to break past the darkness of
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the events around it and once again I
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share in the Peace of the near future
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finally we have the oil lamp
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if studied carefully you will see if the
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source of light that is lighting the
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scene is not the electric light bulb
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above but the oil lamp immediately
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beside it this small flame is strong
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enough to shed light upon the entire
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scene and if it is in fact the spirit of
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the Spanish Republic wielding it then it
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is the source of hope for those in the
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scene itself this would explain why the
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injured woman below looks up longingly
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towards the lamps light hopefully that
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helped shed a little light on - not just
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- Picasso was an artist but how is
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effective use of symbolism play him into
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the limelight as one of the 20th
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century's most intellectual artists
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thanks for watching smart our history if
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answers you're looking for
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so thing you see but always hiding just
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directly behind the thing that is in
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front of us the issue with this is that
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you can never really remove the
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obstruction entirely because the issue
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is not with the object but within the
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thought and language itself which brings
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us back to the Priory of images at first
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glance the image seems quite simple and
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it messes its life so what has it been
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odd is that the local pipe is a message
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written directly to the viewer this is
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not a pipe so if this isn't a pipe what
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is it
