
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls,” a quote by Pablo Picasso, one of the world’s most renowned artists of the twentieth century. One of Picasso’s most famous paintings, Guernica, was a response to the 1937 Nazi bombing of the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso uses color, complexity, and symbolism to show the absolute horror of the bombing of Guernica, to argue against the war and violence of the world. 

Guernica is composed of a mostly monochromatic colorway, consisting of black, white, and different shades of grey. The different uses of the colors of black and white are used to show the highlights and the shadows of the painting, helping the viewer to focus on the different entities of the painting. The dark shades of black and grey contributes to the somber tone of the painting, further portraying the gloomy emotions towards all of what happened in Guernica. The many different figures in the painting all have different shades to them, with white giving the viewer entities to focus on, and black showing parts of the painting hidden by shadows. The black and white contrast throughout the painting crates intensity, and almost the sense of a dramatic movement. The sharp angles of light and darkness show the manic energy of the work as a whole, and how each entity is entangled with the others. With the painting of Guernica, Picasso wanted to show the disparity of war. He was able to capture this through the use of these dark tones of color and high contrast. 

The complexity of Guernica also contributes to the anti-war message of the work. The visual complexity at first glance gives the viewer this feeling of chaos, with so many different entities interacting with one another. The different bodies of the painting are all discombobulated, and it is hard to tell the boundaries of each figure. Each of the entities of the painting seem to be jumbled together in a random fashion, all being broken up by the rays of darkness and light piercing through the painting. Portraying each entity of the painting in this jumbled manner, Picasso creates the illusion of the pure chaos that took place during the bombing. There are so many figures and shapes in the painting, that at first glance the viewer does not even know what to look at. Without dissecting the image, and looking at it piece by piece, it is hard to find the meaning of the painting as a whole. Picasso did this on purpose to further portray his anti-war message, supported by the pure chaos, and complexity of the painting. 

Guernica is composed of a multitude of symbols, all representing their own individual message. By looking at each of these symbols individually the viewer is able to dissect the message behind each, further contributing to the overall message Picasso was trying to portray.  First, looking at the bull on the far left, the viewer can first notice the pure terror of the bull. Commonly bulls are used as a symbol of Spain, and by looking at the emotion on the bulls face, the reader can see the shocked and terrified face of the bull. This look of terror helps to contribute to the emotion behind Picasso’s anti-war message. Below the bull is the image of the woman crying helplessly holding her dead child. This is a form of pathos, conveying the emotions of sorrow and helplessness. The woman’s eyes are in the shape of tears, showing the pure emotions of the mother as she is grieving over the death of her innocent child. At the bottom of the painting there is the image of a discombobulated soldier. It is hard to make out the actual boundaries of his body, and he seems to be in pieces. In his right hand there is a broken sward, showing the defenselessness of Guernica against the Nazi air bombings. Also in that same hand is a flower. This is arguably the only positive image of the entire painting, and is most likely a symbol of the small amount of hope that remains for the town of Guernica amongst all of the devastation. In the center of the painting is the horse. Just as it is for the soldier, it is hard to make out what shapes make up the horse’s body exactly, which was done on purpose to portray the chaos of the situation. The horse is portrayed as if it is in a panic, and is shown pierced by a spear or shrapnel of some sort. The horse further contributes to Picasso’s anti-war message by showing the panic and hysteria of war, and how nothing is spared in war, not even an innocent horse. Above the horse at the center of the painting is the lightbulb. The lightbulb is a symbol of God over watching. The light emitted by the lightbulb resembled the shape of an eye. Most of the humans in the painting are looking up towards the sky, crying out for Gods mercy. The eye shaped light symbolizes how God watched over the town of Guernica, but was unable to answer the prayers of mercy of its people. To the right of the horse is a ghostly woman holding out an oil lamp. This woman is depicted as bewildered at the sight of this bombing. She symbolizes the people of Spain that were on looking the bombings, unable to aid the people of Guernica. Below the ghostly woman is another woman that appears to be injured in the wake of the bombings. She is staring directly at the lightbulb, obviously crippled by the wreckage around her. She is shown staring at the lightbulb to symbolize the people of Guernica unable to help themselves, pleading for the mercy of God. The last main figure of Guernica is the man all the way to the right of the painting. The man is shown engulfed in fire, with both hands up pleading for the bombing to stop. This man enhances the anti-war message showing the suffering that comes with war and violence. 

Through the use of color, complexity, and symbolism, Picasso shows the absolute horror of the bombing of Guernica, and argues against the war and violence of the world. Each element of this painting contributes to the emotions of the viewer. Picasso waned to strike this emotion within the viewer to intensify the message that he was trying to convey, and to show his views on the Guernica bombing. Because of the emotions that Picasso was able to evoke upon the viewer, he was effective in portraying his anti-war message.
