'Guernica'

Question 1

• What are the ‘use of materials’ in Guernica?

Answer 1

1. Oil on canvas was used to create this work.
   ➞ The painting was done on a huge scale and the paint was applied mostly flatly.
   ↳ Black and grey tones - in areas of mostly flatly applied paint - are unbroken by texture or tonality.
2. Black painted lines are used to show simple details (such as facial features) which communicate the horror of war.
   ➞ Black paint is also used in outlines which define the edges.
3. Paint is applied with textural brushwork in some areas, which contrasts with the flatness of the rest of the shapes.
   ➞ The simplicity of the painted marks (such as the repeated dash lines used to create the pattern of newsprint) expresses the horror of a war in a more intense way than traditional methods.
4. Grisaille painting is a Renaissance technique that Picasso adapted,
   ➞ They are produced in monochrome and Picasso uses only black, white and tones of grey paint to achieve a grisaille effect in Guernica.
   ↳ This gives the painting contrast and visual impact.

Question 2

• What are the ‘uses of scale’ in Guernica?

Answer 2

1. The size of the canvas gives huge visual impact to the anti-war message being portrayed by Picasso.
   ➞ The painting was commissioned to fit in the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair in 1937.
2. Picasso sometimes worked on a large scale but this painting is large even by his standards.
   ➞ Guernica is over 3 metres high and 8 metres in length.
   ↳ These mounmental proportions immerse the viewer in this political painting and make them feel part of the horrific scene of war and destruction.
3. The distorted scale of the imagery used, with everything being represented in a variety of scales on the one picture plane,
   ➞ creates an effect of the contorted proportions which adds to the tension and disturbing atmsophere created by the work.

Question 3

• What are the ‘uses of techniques and/or technology’ in Guernica?

Answer 3

1. Grisaille paintings are produced in monochrome.
   ➞ The technique was used by Renaissance artists and was less widely used in the 20th century.
   ↳ Picasso’s Guernica is an example of a contemporary painting in grisaille, and its lack of colour give it its distinctive and striking appearance.
2. Paint is applied with textural brushwork in some areas, which contrasts with the flatness of the rest of the shapes.
   ➞ The simplicity and rawness of the painted marks, such as the repeated dashed lines used to create the pattern of newsprint, expresses the horror of a war in a more intense way than traditional methods where the artist is aiming to achieve realism.
3. A Cubist technique is used to create multiple viewpoints by overlapping figures and shapes with no obvious horizon line -
   ➞ this distorted perspective means that everything seems to be happening on the same flattened plane.
   ↳ Although the perspective is flattened, some depth is suggested by the overlapping figures and geometric shapes.
   ➜ The fragmented composition is crowded and chaotic and communicates the confusion of the scene.
4. Triangular composition is a technique often used in expressive art.
   ➞ Here it creates a strong diagonal emphasis.
   ↳ At the apex is the ‘eye’ and this leads the viewer’s eye down to the woman on her knees.

Question 4

• What are the ‘working methods’ in Guernica?

Answer 4

1. The creation of Guernica was documented by the photographer Dora Maar.
   ➞ She recorded Picasso working on the painting, first sketching the composition and then making numerous changes by overpainting areas with different imagery.
   ↳ He seems to have worked out the composition as he went along.
2. Picasso made many charcoal sketches as he worked, developing the characters and their expressions before finalising these in the painting itself.
   ➞ The characters were based on many of Picasso’s previous Cubist paintings.
3. Picasso worked quickly and spontaneously, completing the vast painting in less than 6 weeks.
   ➞ This was because he wanted to capture his immediate reaction to the event, which he first saw in The Times, on this large-scale canvas, which was used as a mural in the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair of 1937.

Question 5

• What are the ‘choices of subject matter’ in Guernica?

Answer 5

1. The subject is the bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War and the destruction caused.
   ➞ The painting contains anti-war imagery, such as a screaming mother and a dead child.
   ↳ There is a fallen soldier with the broken sword, which represents the fallen Republican army which did not have the weapons they needed to fight back.
   ➜ The soldier’s severed arm grasps a small flower - a symbol of hope.
2. The subject matter is full of symbolism.
   ➞ The bull, said to represent General Franco who had ordered the bombing, looks on dispassionately. The horse represents the ordinary working people who were murdered and wounded.
3. The burning buildings surrounding the figures communicate the scale of the devastation and emphasises the harmful force of war.
   ➞ An exploding light bulb illuminates some of the figures, highlighting the victims of war, exposing them to the viewer’s eyes.
   ↳ The light also resembles an ‘eye’ which could symbolise the world watching the event.
4. The treatment of the subject matter conveys the horror of war.
   ➞ Forms are confusingly represented from different angles - faces are simultaneously side profile and facing forward.
   ↳ Repeated traingular shapes create a jagged and angular pattern that pierces the overlapping figures, symbolising death and destruction.
   ➜ The sharp tongues of the grieving women, bull and horse are shaped like daggers, symbolising screams of rage or portraying the agony of death.

Question 6

• What are the ‘considerations of mood and atmosphere’ in Guernica?

Answer 6

1. The monochromatic palette creates a harsh and despairing mood.
   ➞ Exaggerated expressions created through the use of symbolic characters express the horror of war.
   ↳ Jagged angular lines, dark tonal background and the confusing Cubist composition communicates the chaos of the scene.
2. The mood of devestation is conveyed by the confusing, fragmented forms - the faces are shown from multipe viewpoints.
3. There is an atmosphere of death and destruction portrayed by the jagged shapes and forms which pierces the figures.
4. A distressing mood is conveyed through the expressions of the characters, whose sharp, pointed tongues seem to suggest that they are screaming in agony.

Question 7

• ‘What are the ‘considerations of style’ in Guernica?

Answer 7

1. The painting is created in the Cubist style
   ➞ This means that the form is flattened as the perspective is on one plane with multiple viewpoints.
   ↳ Forms are represented from different angles - faces are simultaneously side profiled and facing forward.
2. The distorted and fragmented shapes create a jagged and angular image with overlapping figures.
   ➞ The resulting confusion and disordered effect symbolises the horrors of the war.
3. The figures are stylised with the sharp tongues of the grieving women, bull and horse shaped like pointed daggers,
   ➞ symbolising their screams of rage or the agony of death.
4. Picasso was in a relationship with the photographer Dora Maar, when the painting was created.
   ➞ During this period, his style changed as it did with every major relationship he became involved in.
   ↳ This time his style became angular with hard lines and fractured geometry.
   ➜ This mirrored his relationship with Maar, which was tense and stormy.

Question 8

• What are the ‘uses of colour’ in Guernica?

Answer 8

1. The neutral monochromatic palette is grey and black.
   ➞ What appears to be ‘white’ is actually grey.
   ↳ The neutral colour palette emphasises the fractured composition through his use of contrast between light and dark coloured areas.
2. Picasso used this monochrome palette to emphasise the horrors of war and the seriousness of the subject matter he portrayed.
   ➞ It could also be a reference to the newspaper article through which Picasso first learnt of the atrocity in Guernica, as the vertical marks on the horse are often seen as a representation of newspaper columns and words.
   ↳ Newspapers and their black and white photographs were the major source of information at this time.
3. The sharp contrast of black and white across the painting’s surface creates dramatic intensity.
   ➞ Absence of colour creates a sorrowful and tragic atmosphere, conveying the suffering of war.

Question 9

• What are the ‘impacts of social, cultural and other influences’ in Guernica?

Answer 9

1. During the Spanish Civil War, Guernica was bombed by order of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, causing mass destruction.
   ➞ The bombing raid was organised for market day and in 3 hours, 1850 people were killed.
   ↳ As people ran in terror to the fields, they were machine gunned down by the German pilots.
   ➜ This incident deeply affected Picasso who was inspired to create the painting, communicating the horror of war through the fragmented composition, monochromatic colour scheme and harrowing imagery.
2. Picasso was influenced by primitive art, especially African masks, which inspired the stylised mask-like faces in Guernica.
   ➞ The painting also has a primitive energy communicating Picasso’s raw emotion in response to the horror of the event.
3. The Third of May, 1808 by Goya (1814) is an anti-war painting of men facing a firing sqaud.
   ➞ It is illuminated by a single central light source similar to Guernica. The Third of May also has a strong triangular composition, similar to the arrangement created by the woman with arms held high in the burning building in Guernica.
   ↳ Goya’s masterpiece was seen as a symbol of resistance.
4. Cezanne was the first artist to create paintings that did not attempt to be representations of nature.
   ➞ He distorted perspective deliberately to achieve balance and harmony. Picasso was influenced by Cezanne but took his ideas further when he developed Cubsim.
   ↳ This meant that he deliberately distorted the perspective in Guernica to create a feeling of chaos and confusion.
5. George Braque was an influence on Picasso.
   ➞ Cubism was developed by Picasso and Braque together, who also thought Cezanne as the ‘father of modern art’.
   Guernica is an iconic Cubist painting, rejecting traditional techniques and a singular viewpoint.
   ↳ Instead, Picasso represented a scene from multiple viewpoints, creating a fractured composition typical of the Cubist style.