Pablo Picasso - Guernica

On April 26, 1937, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War bombers from Nazi Germany, in support of the fascist forces led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco in 2008, bombed Guernica, a Basque village in northern Spain, killing or wounding 1,600 men, women and children. Only 15 days later, Pablo Picasso, inspired by the bombing, the work began on a large mural by the Spanish government for the country, the display at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937 on commission.Upon completion, the painting, Guernica, was displayed around the world, garnering wide acclaim. More importantly, it brought the Spanish Civil War into the international spotlight.

World Tour

Guernica's tour began in the Scandinavian capitals, followed by London, where it arrived on September 30, 1938, the same day the Munich Agreement, which permitted Germany to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, was signed by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. It then returned, briefly, to Paris, before making its way to the United States. There, it was used to raise funds and support for Spanish refugees, following the victory of Franco in Spain.

While in the United States, Guernica was entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, at the request of Picasso. Six weeks after the Nazi invasion of Poland, a Picasso retrospective opened at the museum, with Guernica as its centerpiece.

For the next thirteen years, between 1939 and 1952, the painting traveled extensively throughout the United States, followed by stops in Brazil, Milan, and a number of major European cities. The well-traveled piece then returned to the Museum of Modern Art for a retrospective celebrating Picasso's seventy-fifth birthday, before getting back on the road for stops in Chicago and Philadelphia.

Eventually, concern for the painting's safety led to the decision to keep it permanently housed at the Museum of Modern Arts, was placed in a room on the third floor, along with a series of preliminary studies of Picasso and Dora Maar some photographs. And since he would stay until 1981.

Unlikely symbol of peace and freedom

While living in occupied Paris during World War II, Picasso suffered harassment from the Gestapo. A staff member would be asked to view a photo of Guernica in his apartment: "You did this?" Picasso replied, "No, you did."

During 'Vietnam War, mostly peaceful anti-war vigils were sometimes held in the room containing the painting. But in 1974, ostensibly protesting Richard Nixon's pardon of William Calley for his involvement in the My Lai massacre, Tony Shafrazi sprayed the words "KILL LIES ALL" in red paint on the painting. Fortunately, the paint was easily removed from Guernica's varnished surface.

In Spain, during the 1970s, the painting was used as a symbol of the end of Franco's regime. It also became a symbol of Basque nationalism, with the Basque left repeatedly using imagery from the picture.

Return to Spain

In 1968 Franco expressed his desire to have Guernica returned to Spain, but Picasso refused. He would only allow the painting's return when the Spanish people were again able to enjoy a republic. Other conditions, including the restoration of public liberties and democratic institutions, were added later.

Franco died in 1975, just two years after Picasso's death. After the death of Franco, Spain has ratified into a constitutional democratic monarchy, with a new constitution in 1978. The Museum of Modern Art, however, refused to one of its strengths the fact that a constitutional monarchy has not been submitted to and agreed to the Republic of Picasso in his will as a condition of the painting. But the museum finally bowed to international pressure again Guernica in Spain in 1981.