Guernica Metal Wall Art: Pablo Picasso Iconic Decor

Guernica Metal Wall Art, No War Yes Peace Metal Wall Decor, Pablo Picasso Metal Wall Art, Office Entry Metal Wall Art, Housewarming Gift

What would be the best way today to protest against a war? How could you influence the largest number of people? In 1937, Picasso expressed his outrage against war with Guernica, his enormous mural-sized painting displayed to millions of visitors at the Paris World’s Fair. It has since become the twentieth century’s most powerful indictment against war, a painting that still feels intensely relevant today.

Antiwar icon
Much of the painting’s emotional power comes from its overwhelming size, approximately eleven feet tall and twenty five feet wide. Guernica is not a painting you observe with spatial detachment; it feels like it wraps around you, immerses you in its larger-than-life figures and action. And although the size and multiple figures reference the long tradition of European history paintings, this painting is different because it challenges rather than accepts the notion of war as heroic. So why did Picasso paint it?

Commission
In 1936, Picasso (who was Spanish) was asked by the newly elected Spanish Republican government to paint an artwork for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. The official theme of the Exposition was a celebration of modern technology. Yet Picasso painted an overtly political painting, a subject in which he had shown little interest up to that time. What had happened to inspire it?

Crimes against humanity: an act of war
In 1936, a civil war began in Spain between the democratic Republican government and fascist forces, led by General Francisco Franco, attempting to overthrow them. Picasso’s painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when Hitler’s powerful German air force, acting in support of Franco, bombed the village of Guernica in northern Spain, a city of no strategic military value. It was history’s first aerial saturation bombing of a civilian population. It was a cold-blooded training mission designed to test a new bombing tactic to intimidate and terrorize the resistance. For over three hours, twenty five bombers dropped 100,000 pounds of explosive and incendiary bombs on the village, reducing it to rubble. Twenty more fighter planes strafed and killed defenseless civilians trying to flee. The devastation was appalling: fires burned for three days, and seventy percent of the city was destroyed. A third of the population, 1600 civilians, were wounded or killed.

Picasso hears the news
On May 1, 1937, news of the atrocity reached Paris. Eyewitness reports filled the front pages of local and international newspapers. Picasso, sympathetic to the Republican government of his homeland, was horrified by the reports of devastation and death. Guernica is his visual response, his memorial to the brutal massacre. After hundreds of sketches, the painting was done in less than a month and then delivered to the Fair’s Spanish Pavilion, where it became the central attraction. Accompanying it were documentary films, newsreels and graphic photographs of fascist brutalities in the civil war. Rather than the typical celebration of technology people expected to see at a world’s fair, the entire Spanish Pavilion shocked the world into confronting the suffering of the Spanish people.
Later, in the 1940s, when Paris was occupied by the Germans, a Nazi officer visited Picasso’s studio. “Did you do that?” he is said to have asked Picasso while standing in front of a photograph of the painting. “No,” Picasso replied, “you did.”

Benli Metal Wall Decor presents this lovely metal decor to give your walls a new stylish look. Let's create stunning atmosphere in your living spaces. Or gift it and make someones's day. The laser cut details of Metal Wall Decorr is sure to catch the eyes of your family and friends.

It stands behind every product we produce with the principle of advanced high quality and high level of excellence.

Dimensions :

• XL Size - (H) 27" x (W) 57"
L Size - (H) 22" x (W) 47"
M Size - (H) 19" x (W) 40"
S Size - (H) 13" x (W) 27"
▸in cm:
XL Size - (H) 70cm x (W) 146cm
L Size - (H) 57cm x (W) 120cm
M Size - (H) 48cm x (W) 100cm
S Size - (H) 37cm x (W) 70cm

• Non toxic material. Available for indoor and outdoor uses
• Products have a solid and rigid structure with a thickness of 2mm.
• There are 2 hangers on the back to fix our products to the wall,installation is simple and practical.
(You can mount with a few small nails.)
• ⚒️ Material: Quality Lightweight 16 Gauge Steel. 1.5 Steel

• 🎨 Color: Black textured static powder coating

• 📦 Packing: It’s a very sturdy box. Housewarming Gift.
• Do not forget to pay attention to the size you want when purchasing.

• Free Delivery via FedEx in 3-5 business days for the US, Canada, and Europe.

This product was listed on ETSY for the first time as a design and proof of work.
Please feel free to contact us if you have a second thought. Although customer satisfaction comes first to us, you can contact us when you encounter any problem with the product.