Noah Charney, Salon: Picasso’s weapon against fascism: Why “Guernica” is the greatest of all war paintings
80 years after Franco's forces led a terror bombing of civilians, Picasso's painting of the horror still works.
On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a swarm of fighter planes attacked the Basque town of Guernica, killing hundreds of civilians. The town was an important strategic center for the Republican forces, who were fighting against the Nationalist forces, the ultimate victors, led by General Franco. Guernica was the traditional meeting place for a Basque governmental body, but it was also the last defensible town for the Republicans, standing between Franco’s forces and the Basque capital, Bilbao.
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WNU Editor: I first saw a picture of it in high school .... and an explanation that because of the shades of dark/grey/white that Picasso used, it cannot be photographed properly. I have seen the tapestry of Guernica at the United Nations more than once .... it is definitely a striking piece of work. On my bucket list .... my hope is that I will get to see the original in Madrid one day. For more info on this painting, Wikipedia has a good post on it (the link is here).
