Guernica Flashcards
(13 cards)
Composition/arrangement
-Made chaotic by overlapping images to depict the horrors of war.
-The oil lamp creates unity using light assembling a triangle central composition.
Media handling and techniques
-Oil paint on canvas in a monochrome, grisaille palette creates severe bold imagery.
-Picasso requested a paint with minimum gloss which contributes to the muted, matte tones in the artwork.
Colour
-The painting is deliberately devoid of all colour to emphasise the intensity of the bombing of Guernica.
-The monochrome, grisaille palette has connotations of newspaper articles, immediateness, grief and terror.
Line
-Angular lines create a depiction of the fragmented, chaotic destruction of the bombing.
-Leading lines emerge from the scattered structure of figures, leading the viewers eye across the painting as they are engulfed in the terror of Guernica.
Tone
-Guernica’s stark contrast between black and white makes its images bold and striking.
-The grey tones are reminiscent of a newspaper or an old photograph- how Picasso would have found out about the bombing.
Texture/pattern
-The horses chain mail pattern gives the effect of a newspaper article. Giving the effect of documentary, realism and immediacy.
-Texture is kept to a minimum in keeping with the cubist style and also emphasising the horrific event.
Shape/form
-The tongue of the grieving woman and the horse are sharp and resemble daggers, symbolising the anguish and violence towards the innocent.
-One man’s hand has the star-like shape of a stigmata, a bibical reference to martyrdom which suggests the people of Guernica’s bravery
Scale
-Guernica is around 3 meters in height and 8 meters in width. These monumental proportions immerse the viewer in the atrocities being depicted.
-The animals and humans are portrayed as similar in scale, perhaps indicating how all life is affected by war equally.
foot
Style
-Guernica is a painting done in the cubist style co-created by Picasso. The figures are seen from multiple perspectives at once creating a fractured composition showing the disturbances of the event.
-Block colour and absence of tone creates simple yet powerful imagery common in cubism.
Mood and atmosphere
-Monochromic palette creates a stark, depressing atmosphere.
-The characters exxagerated expressions express the horrors of war and evoke emotional responses in the audience.
Subject matter/imagery
Guernica was painted to express Picassos outrage at the 1937 bombing of the basque town and the deaths of 1/3 of the innocent people.
-The eye in the background is encasing a light bulb which illuminated the painting. The could represent the exploitation of technology for evil; The Spanish word for bulb(bombilla) is similar to the Spanish word for bomb(bomba).
-The grieving woman clutching her dead child evokes religious imagery of Mary and Jesus. This appeals to a religious audience.
Cubism effect on Guernica
-Guernica uses cubist techniques such as fragmented and geometric forms, multiple viewpoints and distorted space to convey the chaos and destruction.
-The limited monochrome palette reflects cubist still life paintings and emphasises the starkness and seriousness of the subject matter. It also mimics the aesthetic of newspapers, reinforcing the theme of wartime journalism.
Guernica bombing effect
-The bombing of Guernica in 1937 provided Picasso with the subject matter for the painting. The real-life atrocity led him to create a powerful image that shows the suffering of innocent civilians.
-The brutal violence of the bombing turned Guernica into a symbol of anti-war protest which is still relevant today as a public symbol against fasicism and war.
