'Art as political weapon'

One of the most powerful antiwar artworks in the world is Gurenica by Pablo Picasso,the monument panel is display in Madrid, Spain .It was created in 1937 in Paris in response to Spanish civil war. This war begins in 1936 when group of right-wing Generals launched military coup against the legally elected government of 2^nd Spanish Republic. At significantly military  disadvantage,this government realize heavily on cultural forums to ensure its defense, and that’s why Guernica comes in.Pablo Picasso paints Guernica in response to commission by the government for large scale mural painting which is meant to be center piece for the Spanish pavilion in the 1937 world’s fair. This was the golden opportunity for the government to really to get international support for its cause .Before 1937 Picasso kept out of politics,the Spanish civil war really is the  catalyst for his  political engagement and Guernica is his first manifestation on the world stage.

Picasso was eager to show his support for the republic but he really struggles with findings a subject.For him, art is political weapon and he finally find an inspiration when he reads news in the French press of the bombing of the Basque Village of Guernica on April 26, 1937.  This was particularly atrocious crime in Spanish civil war. Guernica was the spiritual capital of the Basque country and it had absolutely no military or strategic importance and its was bombed by the Nazist and fascist aviation at the behest of nationalist forces on marked day to ensure maximum number of civilian casualties.

 Picasso upon learning news about this bombing embarks on the series of carefully cataloged and dated preliminary paintings and drawing that ultimately added in his master piece. Guernica is simply representation of tragedy and devastation of bombing on larger scale through several main characters a horse ,a bull, a warrior and several women including a woman holding a dead child and these characters  are inspired by various sources including Spanish culture.