The theme of war and industry was inspired by this work. It is an immense painting by Pablo Picasso called Guernica. It is a giant piece and the content is just as heavy. Its story brings me so much pain. In a way, it connects me to something I hope to never witness. It transcends its time period to bring others back. A work’s ability to do that is what I think makes it great.

The dysmorphia of each figure cultivates the chaos of the scene. There is so much happening, it is hard to tell what is actually happening. There is a horse and a bull among the people on the left who are wailing. I am always the most disturbed by the mother. She is in a pain I cannot describe. She is holding a child so lifeless it's gone limp. 

Directly to her right is a dead man, perhaps trampled by the horse. He has a broken sword in his hand. Coming his way is another person, with their head turned up. Above them is a person illuminating the room with a candle. They are coming from upstairs, so everything else must be below ground. Our last person, on the far right, looks like they’re being swallowed. Without knowing what Guernica means and when this was created, it is a painting of suffering. There is desperation screaming out of the characters and life leaving them at the same time. Each part of the characters are fragmented. They have been cut up by something. Perhaps the words on the horse allude to the background of this piece. 


A Victim of Nazi Germany
Picasso, one of the most recognizable artists of all time, was approached by the Spanish Republican government to create a mural for the Paris World Fair. It was 1937 and Spain’s civil war between nationalist and republican parties was on the rise. Despite the tensions of his home country, Picasso accepted the Republican government’s request. Guernica was directly inspired by events that would devastate Spain a few months later. 

On April 26, Nazi forces devastated the town of Guernica in the Basque region of Spain. They leveled it with bombs for about three hours. One third of the town’s population had been murdered. Picasso finished this massive 25.5 x 11.5 ft. painting in three weeks. ¹ 

There is a lot to dissect in the piece, but the symbolism of the bull and horse have significant relativity to the political condition of Spain at the time. The bull which surrounds the mother and dead child, could represent the evil of fascism. The horse on the other hand, possibly represents the town of Guernica, fractured and in distress. 
It was industry that made devastation like this possible. Without the advancement of aviation and military tactics, a blitzkrieg ny Nazi Germany would've been impossible. So, not for the first time in history, the actions of war have benefitted from industry. The cycle is not that simple, however. Industry has played an unfortunately beneficial role for Germany. On the other hand, development in aviation allowed powers like the United States to help bring World War Ⅱ to an end. The relationship between industry and war is complicated, and Picasso has given us a constant reminder of its potential. 


 ¹ Zelazko, Alicja. “Guernica.” Britannica, Encyclopedia, 29 May 2020.