Guernica

All art is created with a purpose. It has meaning. Every art piece is drawn, sculpted, or painted to convey a message or emotion—to make a statement and to gain perspective. Picasso, a talented and innovative artist, was an artist that painted, drew, and sculpted with a purpose. His distinctive style and interpretation of perspective significantly impacted his audience and simultaneously revolutionized the world of visual art. Picasso’s success can be attributed to his approach of art through several lenses, particularly the rhetorical lens. The use of this lens can be seen in several of Picasso’s paintings, but especially in Guernica. Picasso’s painting, Guernica, successfully utilizes rhetorical strategies and appeals through the integration and fusion of artistic style, subject matter, and creative expression.

At first glance the painting Guernica displays one of Picasso’s signature styles, cubism. Cubism was explored and invented by Picasso in the early 20th century and depicts an alteration of perspectives: three dimensional viewpoints isolated, analyzed, and painted onto a two dimensional surface. In greater detail it can be defined as: “objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.” The formulation of a new and innovative perspective achieved through a college of old, manipulated perspectives characterizes cubism. This establishes the most important aspect of cubism: the end of ambiguity. Art historian Ernst Gombrich described cubism as "the most radical attempt to stamp out ambiguity and to enforce one reading of the picture - that of a man-made construction, a coloured canvas.”

The end of ambiguity in cubism artwork leads directly to the rhetorical appeal of logos. The viewer is forced to look the one perspective presented in the piece of art. In Picasso’s Guernica, the use of cubism, the convention of one perspective from many, establishes a rational argument. Picasso directly presents his argument and perspective without conflicting viewpoints. He precisely conveys his message, or the meaning of the painting, through the use of cubism as well as the rhetorical strategies of description, illustration, and example. The perspective Picasso presents in his Guernica is one of suffering and pain, chaos and confusion: the stark and harsh perspectives brought about in the time of war. The characters in the painting are contorted in agony. The woman on the far left of the painting is holding her dead child twisting her head back, weeping and mourning her loss. The horse in the center of the painting is twisted and tangled in pain as it is being pierced in the side by a spear. The curvy figures are intersected by sharp dark lines while the background and foreground overlap creating a sense of chaos and confusion. The woman on the far left disappears into the dark background—burning alive in a building. Only the head and upper appendages of fallen warrior can be detected in the painting as the rest of his body is enveloped in darkness. The bull is also swallowed into the dark background. This establishes a setting of chaos and disorientation in the midst of grief and anguish. Picasso explains his perception and successful isolation of argument in his painting: “In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.”

Logical fallacies are also at work in the painting. Guernica was painted during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930’s (fascism takeover of a peaceful republic). Picasso was asked to present a painting at the National Exposition in Paris for the world fair. Picasso lacked inspiration for the painting until he saw a photo in the newspaper of the Nazi bombing of Guernica in Spain. Outraged at the violence in his native country, he began the painting. The painting clearly depicts war—specifically the side of war involving mass destruction, loss, and suffering—and reduces the argument to an extreme: the logical fallacy of the either-or argument. Only one side, one perspective, is depicted in the painting. This painting later became one of the most famous anti-war sentiments and propaganda icons of all time.
Picasso’s powerful and moving icon, Guernica, incorporates another artistic style: futurism. Futurism is close in technique and style to cubism, but subject matter greatly differs. Cubism subject matter appeals to still life objects and buildings; futurism subject matter commonly depicts modern urban scenes. Popular scenes include war and violence. “Futurism had from the outset admired violence and was intensely patriotic.” Picasso’s subject matter in Guernica directly agrees with the ideas of futurism. The setting of the painting is warfare. It also demonstrates Picasso’s loyalty to Spain and his personal stance against fascism. This leads towards another rhetorical appeal, that of pathos.
The subject matter of war strongly appeals to pathos. Warfare is a time of misery, grief, disorder, and chaos. It has an extremely strong connection to emotion: “The work attempts to convey feelings and sensations experienced in time, using new means of expression, including ‘lines of force’, which were intended to convey the directional tendencies of objects through space, ‘simultaneity’, which combined memories, present impressions and anticipation of future events, and ‘emotional ambience’ in which the artist seeks by intuition to link sympathies between the exterior scene and interior emotion.” Guernica successfully directs emotions, sympathies, and expression from the canvas to its audience utilizing the rhetorical strategies of narration and again example and illustration.
Picasso uses narration, as well as example and illustration through creative expression, to tell a story. It is the story of the bombing of the Spanish city Guernica. The setting is an open, dark, isolated area that gives rise to crowded pale figures portraying moments of loss, suffering, and chaos. The figure on the far left is a woman is engulfed in flames, most likely burning in a building—a possible scenario after the intense bombing of the city. (Guernica was said to have burned for three days after the bombings.) Below her is a fleeing woman. She looks towards the light in the top center of the paining as if to look for hope and relief from darkness. There is another woman in the painting holding a lantern. She also provides light for this scene, creating awareness and attention for the viewer as to what is happening in this scene. In the center of the painting is a horse. Its face is in shock and agony as its side is pierced by a spear. The horse’s upper teeth and nose form to look like a human skull, an illustration of death and destruction. Underneath a horse is a fallen warrior. The warrior’s body is in pieces. His severed arm is clutching a shattered sword and flower. The flower is a representation of hope and ultimately new life and growth. The bull, an icon of Spain, is partially engulfed into the dark background. This parallels the attempt of fascist takeover of the republican government and the disappearance of a peaceful Spain. The story continues with a woman morning the loss of her child. This is one of the most powerful images in the painting. Her contorted body positions itself in agony and ultimate loss. Her head is back and she is screaming, wailing, and suffering. The child in her arms is lifeless, its eyes are shut and its body dangles in its mother’s arms.
The story concludes when the painting is viewed in its entirety. The color scheme is monochromatic: empowering and authorizing the painting’s manifestation. The serious tone allows the images to convey the harsh emotions in a raw and distinct manner to its audience. Newspaper print is also found in the painting. This use of text, a common informer of current events—specifically the bombing of Guernica, creates an unforgettable emotional link between this painting and the articles about the bombings. Picasso again successfully utilizes technique and subject matter, as well as creative expression to convey emotion to his audience.
All art is created with a purpose and meaning: to gain perspective. Picasso’s union of different artistic styles, techniques, and creative expression in the painting Guernica, conceives an image of powerful appeal and perspective. When filtered through a rhetorical lens it has the appeal of logos and pathos and the strategies of example and illustration, description, and narration. To this day, Guernica, a portrayal of suffering, conflict, and sentiment, is one of the most influential and compelling paintings of modern art.


Works Cited:

"Cubism." Wikipedia. 2008. 7 Apr 2008 .

"Futurism." Wikipedia. 2008. 7 Apr 2008 .

Moffat, Charles. "Cubism." Art History Archive-Art Movements 07 Apr 2008 .

"The Meaning of Cubsim." Cubism FAQ 04 Apr 2008 .

"Guernica: Testimonies of War." Treasures of the World: Guernica 05 Apr 2008 .

Hart, David. "PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973): FROM THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR TO VIETNAM ." Picasso's War Art 29 Jan 2004 04 Apr 2008 .