Guernica (1937)
The monstrosity depicted in Guernica is that of the victims who are desperate and woeful for the destruction of everything they hold dear. Interestingly, the painting fails to depict the German bombers themselves when they are the causes of the destruction and are arguably more monstrous. Instead, the viewer is left with the human fragments left behind by such a tragedy. Guernica interfaces with themes of fear and through its styling creates a terrifying and perplexing view of such a raw emotion. Like in “The Skriker” there is unease in the ability to not fully understand the meaning and impression of the art even if we may understand the ‘words’ that this painting presents. Picasso was incredible at placing emotions on a canvas and challenging the viewer to reassert what they think of war or sorrow in this case. Guernica is a perfect artistic comparison to the monstrous texts we read in class; the texts and Picasso challenged what we thought was normal about humanity and monstrosity and then began to blur the lines so that we could not see the difference between the two.
This marks the end of my virtual exhibit, I encourage any reader to return to any of the paintings that spoke to them and comment on their monstrosity and importance.