Hi folks,
I am back in LA to work with students.
Today I worked with one student on taking a critical look at Picasso’s Guernica. This was painted in response to the Fascists’ relentless bombing of the Basque town of Guernica, which had 5,000 people. The bombing lasted several hours and 22 tons of bombs were released on the tiny village. The goals was to terrorize and demoralize anyone in Spain who was interested in fighting against Franco. The year was 1937. The bombing, aided by the Germans, was the first experiment with Blitzkrieg.
I found this information fascinating. It is clear from the painting something terrible has happened, but I had not know the history of Guernica or Picasso’s need to express his outrage at this event. This made the painting a thousand times more meaningful to me and also helped me to see how the artist was able to capture the horrors of war. His images are as relevant today as they were almost a century ago.
Here is the painting for you perusal.
I hope you’re having a fine day. I suspect you are looking forward to a warm bed and a good night sleep as much as I am.
I’ll be checking back in with you tomorrow. I hope you have a fine rest of the night.
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