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Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

guernica.museoreinasofia.es

61–70 of 88 posts

Re: Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

#61
My wife and I visited Reina Sofia last year and saw “Guernica”. That entire wing is fantastic: the section leading into the room covers war posters and other contemporaneous works, leading you into a room dominated by the painting, with side galleries focusing on smaller studies and post-work of characters.

Aside from the subject matter I was not prepared for the size of the work. It is one thing to see on a monitor or handheld screen, and quite another to see it full-scale. It is a qualitative change, not merely a quantitative one. So while this high fidelity picture allows one to study technique, color, and changes he made while painting, I think it misses the point. I say this without having read much commentary or critique of the work, but I imagine Picasso was so overwhelmed by Guernica that he wanted any viewer to overwhelmed, too. So if they do move it, I hope it is in a similar setting - in a moderately sized room, on a wall not much larger than the work itself, inescapable.

As ridiculous as it may sound, if you plan on visiting, plan two outings: one for Guernica, and one for the rest of the museum. That room and work are emotionally exhausting, and at least for my wife and I the intensity of that wing required a cooldown period.

Re: Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

#64
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> England and US carries the crown of the barbarism... Germany played a part. Snark aside, v1's and 2's weren't exactly 'targetted'.

These decisions precedes the extensive use of V1 and V2, also volume and scale matters. Thats why they got the crown.

London, Bristol, Southampton, Coventry and various other English cities were heavily bombed by Germany before the UK's major bomber offensive on Germany.

Re: Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

#65
I was always puzzled by Guernica. It looks so ugly (I think most people who saw it for the first time and didn't know it was a famous painting by Picasso would agree), so how did it get so famous in the first place? Perhaps the point was that war is ugly, so the painting also had to be ugly? But it looks literally like a bad children's drawing. Maybe it got famous because a famous painter making an ugly painting on a serious subject was a novel and unconventional idea.

Re: Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

#66
post #4

the way this displayed in the Reina Sofia is fantastic. it’s set in its own room that you approach from the side so you get this experience of turning a corner and boom there’s Guernica. Gave me chills.

It’s really one of those things that you have to see in person and walk up and down along to understand. The scale of it alone is a huge part of what makes it so memorable.

Similarly for Gericault's 'Raft of the Medusa'. I had only seen it in a book and had no idea how big it was. It is enormous. Go see it if you are ever at the Louvre (much more impressive than the Moca Lisa IMHO).

Re: Picasso’s Guernica (Gigapixel)

#68

I don't understand why picasso is famous and considered a great artist

Picasso was an artistic prodigy from an early age, and was talented at painting in the styles of the day like realism etc.

The reason why he is influential and not forgotten is that he took painting in an entirely new direction and was able to convey emotion and philosophical ideas (like in Guernica, for example) in a completely different way than what was typical at the time. In a lot of his work he strips things down and distorts them on purpose to show multiple perspectives, which isn't something that realism usually tries to do.

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