“Guernica” is a painting created in 1937 by Pablo Picasso, which depicts demons and evil souls escaping into the outer world.
Picasso was inspired by the aftermath photographs of the German aerial bombing of Basque town and expressed his disgust and grief over the fatal event. However, rather than specifically painting about the event itself, Picasso used this as motivation to paint about the grief and terror he felt about war itself.
The main focus of this painting is on the evil spirits, seizing their chance to escape to the outer world, after forcefully releasing themselves from a small room, as depicted by the open door. Conveyed through the visual expressions and outer appearances of these evil spirits, Picasso did his best to express the true terror of war and destruction. The painting lacks color overall and is colored in black and white. Most of the painting is generally black, but Picasso incorporates white when it is necessary, as depicted by the light lamp on the ceiling.
The choice of color, being black and white, often represents and evokes emotions of sadness and anger. This choice can be justified, as Picasso expresses his despair about the German aerial bombing of the Basque town. In addition to the choice of color, he uses these evil spirits as a way to show his stance on what he believes is right or wrong. Picasso indicates that the actions of war lead to even more destruction, as an action already done cannot be forgotten both physically or mentally. The ceiling lamp lightens the room, which illuminates the appearances of the evil spirits. However, in the shadows lurk many more, which signifies that what we see is not all we know. The audience still does not know what exists inside the small room from which the evil spirits emerged.
Moreover, when looking at the physical features of these evil spirits, it can be seen that some of their features are extremely similar to the features of human beings. Rather than depicting the evil spirits as literally evil spirits, Picasso incorporates human features in order to convey that humans are the ones that cause destruction on humanity. However, when noticing the small details of this painting, a small white flower which blooms on top of the arm of a dead spirit can be seen. This signifies that even through all the bad, there is always hope, according to Picasso. Picasso could perhaps be holding on to the slight chance that the world is still a good place, even though reality can be truly horrifying at times.
When I observe this painting, I am reminded by the story of Pandora’s box, a Greek myth. The details in the story and the painting are similar, as evil spirits escape from being concealed inside a small space. Due to Pandora’s curiosity of what is inside the box, she opens it, although this action is forbidden. She is immediately greeted by spirits of Envy, Crime, Hate, and Disease. She shuts the box, but she is too late. Sadly, what has been done cannot be undone, a common theme in both the painting and the story. However, the box still has one more spirit left, and that is Hope. Hope flies out and thanks Pandora for freeing it.
Perhaps just like the story of Pandora’s box, Picasso believes that hope exists in the face of all the evil things in the world.
