Episode: Picasso
On the 26th of April 1937 the German Luftwaffe and the Italian Fascist Aviazione, on behalf of the Spanish Nationalist movement, launched an aerial bombing campaign in the Basque town of Guernica, killing at least 200 to 400 civilians (Basque figures, which has been questioned by modern historians, put the death toll at 1,654). The was "Operation Rügen." It was called by everyone else Terror Bombing. The bombing caused a great deal of structural damage, but it's biggest casualty was the psychological well being of the the Leftist movement in Spain in general and the Basque people in particular.
This horrid act prompted the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to accept a commission from the Spanish Republican government to paint a mural in remembrance of the bombing; arguably he first political work. It was completed in 1937, and it's debut display was at an International Art Exhibition in France. It was then sent on a display tour around the world, helping to draw attention to the Spanish Civil War.
The painting, which is now in Madrid.
As a mural, it depicts the horrors that civilians face when they are caught up in wars waged by evil aggressors. Some parts of the mural have images that are literally skeletal demons, raging out with reaping "rewards" of death and civil mayhem. The citizens, scream and die in agonizing despair. It is also loaded with Spanish national images, such as the bull--powerful reminders of what it meant to be Spanish before the Civil War. Playing to the strengths of Spanish identity to both point out what is on the line, what could be lost forever if the madness of war does not abate, and also to bolster the civilian gaze with reminders of who they really are. They are Spaniards--Basque, Castillian, Gallician, etc.--a collective of Iberians, not merely canon fodder for the dogs of war, or subjects to be ruled a fascist politico.
BELOW ARE SOME IMAGES OF THE TOWN AFTER THE BOMBING
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