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Guernica: Picasso's Giant Picture of Sadness

Imagine a HUGE black and white painting showing a terrible event, telling a story without words!

Images

'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard

'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard

openverse
'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard
Guernica Picasso
picasso's guernica on a thunderbird
'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard
'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard
pablo picasso - femme assise sur la plage
'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard
Guernica Picasso
'Guernica' Picasso MOMA, NYC Bernard
Guernica - Picasso - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Pablo Picasso's Guernica

Key Facts

Artwork Size
3.49 meters (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 in) wide.
Colors Used
Black, white, and shades of gray.
Year Created
1937.
Artist
Pablo Picasso.
Fun Fact
Guernica is so big, it's wider than a classroom!

Meet the Giant Painting!

Guernica is a super-duper big painting made by a famous artist named Pablo Picasso. It’s not colorful like a rainbow; it’s all black, white, and gray, like an old photograph. This giant artwork is as tall as a school bus and almost as long as two school buses parked end-to-end!

Picasso painted it a long, long time ago, in 1937, to show how sad and scary war can be. It’s one of the most famous paintings in the whole world because it makes people think about peace.

A Story Told in Shapes

This painting shows lots of things that look like they are in a lot of pain. There’s a horse with a spear in its side, a bull looking strong, and women crying with babies. You can also see a broken soldier and scary flames.

Picasso used these shapes and colors to show the loud noises, the fear, and the sadness that happened when a town called Guernica was bombed. It’s like a puzzle that tells a very serious story about what happens when there is fighting.

Why Picasso Painted This Picture

Picasso painted Guernica because he heard about a terrible bombing in a town in Spain. It was a very sad day, and many people were hurt. He wanted to show everyone how awful war is and how it makes people suffer. He painted it in his home in Paris, and when it was finished, he showed it to people all over the world. This helped everyone learn about the war and made them want peace even more.

A Painting That Travels

After Picasso finished his giant painting, Guernica went on a big adventure! It traveled to many different countries, like a famous movie star. People paid money to see it, and all that money was sent to help people who were suffering in the war. This painting became a symbol for peace and helped people everywhere understand how important it is to stop fighting and be kind to each other.

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Based on content from Wikipedia · Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0