Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso

Probably Picasso’s most famous work, Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians.

Guernica is a town in Basque Country

Guernica is a town in Basque Country. During the Spanish Civil War, it was regarded as the northern bastion of the Republican resistance movement and the epicenter of Basque culture.
At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion bombed Guernica for about two hours. Germany, at this time led by Hitler, had lent material support to the Nationalists and were using the war as an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics.

In the spring of 1937, Picasso was working on a mural for the Paris Exhibition, set to take place in the summer of that year. The mural had been commissioned by the Spanish Republican government. After hearing about the bombing of Guernica, he abandoned his original idea and, on May 1, 1937, began work on Guernica.

Dora Maar, Picasso on a stepladder in front of Guernica, 1937

Its creation was a long and complex process for Picasso. The artist spent more than three months on the painting, creating numerous preliminary sketches and studies before starting on the final work

Guernica is blue, black and white, 3.5 meters (11 ft) tall and 7.8 meters (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil.

Guernica, Picasso’s powerful anti-war mural, has inspired countless artists with its raw emotion, bold symbolism, and fragmented forms. Its visual language became a timeless tool for confronting injustice, expressing solidarity, and pushing artistic boundaries.