David and Art - The Saga of Guernica

Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting called Guernica is one of the most moving and emotionally powerful anti-war works of art in all of history.His message in it is that here is the kind of suffering, violence, and chaos that war always brings.We still see it continually today.

And the painting is back in the news today.Its capacity of being a symbol of nationalism and national identity—an idea we talked about a few weeks ago—is still as strong as ever. Indeed, that’s why it’s in the news.

For decades the Basque region in the North of Spain—where the city of Guernica is—has tried to make the case that the painting should be there, at least that it should be exhibited there.Especially since the opening of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, only 32 miles from Guernica, people there have been agitating to bring this symbol of Basque identity to its figurative home.In the city of Guernica there’s an outdoor tile mural of the work, but the painting itself has never been there.

Recently the Basque regional government made a request to the national authorities to allow the temporary transfer of the painting from its present location at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid to Bilbao.They said it would be an appropriate “gesture of historical remembrance...toward the Basque people” for the 90th anniversary of the bombing in 2027.They’ve made the request before and each time the Spanish Ministry of Culture says the painting is simply too fragile to move.The museum has denied similar requests from other museums as well including the Museum of Modern Art in New York where the painting lived from the 1940s to 1981.It says that “The great icon of our museum must remain, without exception, outside the institution’s loan policy.”

But the Basque government told the Spanish newspaper El País that they don’t consider that “a formal response.” “We didn’t request a report on the painting’s state of conservation—we already know its condition—but rather a report analyzing the conditions under which it would be possible to move it and temporarily relocate it to the Basque Country.” “We are still waiting.”
It’s also undeniable that the presence of this work in Bilbao could be a strong boost to Basque nationalism and sentiment.A Basque separatist movement has been active since 1959 and while there’s been no violence since 2011, it currently still seeks more regional autonomy.

It’s a perfect example of what we talked about a few weeks ago.The power of art and culture—in this case a giant cubist masterpiece depicting the horrors of war—to shape and form a people’s identity.Because of that, I don’t think this issue is going to be going away any time soon.

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