Арлекин.
Уже в ранние годы «голубого» периода в его работах появляется этот образ — юноша в костюме актера, приготовившийся к спектаклю, в котором он, судя по его хрупкому виду, всего лишь еще одна жертва, один из лицедеев, перенесших на сцену нравы отвергшего его общества. Независимо от исполняемой им роли, комичной или трагической, его фигура вводит в заблуждение, ибо трагедия кроется не в его жестах, а в нем самом.
Образ Арлекина постоянно напоминает о себе в работах Пикассо. Даже в период кубизма, которому не были свойственны элементы художественной символики, ромбовидная отделка костюма этого изгоя часто выдает его присутствие. Неотступное перекочевывание этого трагического образа из картины в картину побудило профессора Юнга предположить, что причина его постоянного появления кроется в подсознательном желании Пикассо представить самого себя в его образе. Это предположение подкрепляется тем, что в ранние годы Арлекин приобретал черты самого художника. Однако Пикассо видел себя не только в образе этого юноши с надломленной душой. Его любовь к перевоплощению, безусловно, побуждала его представлять себя в различных ипостасях. Можно утверждать, что бык, лошадь, минотавр, сова, голубь, задумчивый влюбленный, бородатый художник и даже держащий свечу ребенок также являлись частицей того, кем воображал себя Пикассо.
Увлечение художника образом Арлекина, особенно в ранний период, предполагает наличие аналогии между ним и его легендарным образом. Арлекин Пикассо — это не элегантный забавный актер, столь любимый Ватто; это не гордый, облаченный в красочные одежды юноша Сезанна; это и не паяц. Хотя он и клоун, он — воплощение истины. Хотя он и носит маску, его характер выдают изменчивая внешность и неуловимые черты. В этом Арлекине, одетом в костюм с разноцветными ромбами, можно сразу же разглядеть силу, способную высмеивать кого угодно, оставаясь в то же время неуловимым и внешне беззаботным. Он — вор, который, не будучи заподозрен, способен ради интереса завладеть любой вещью; его действия объясняются просто желанием доказать самому себе, что он способен на этот поступок; ему хочется всего-навсего попытать счастья. В этой игре его цель — помериться силами с запретом. В течение XIX века образ Арлекина не пользовался любовью у художников. Но к концу века он блестяще был выписан в картине Сезанна «Марди-Гра». Пикассо увидел эту приобретенную Волларом картину в его галерее, прежде чем работа была куплена коллекционером Щукиным и увезена в Россию. Образ Арлекина на полотнах Пикассо — это свидетельство влияния на него Сезанна. Чаще всего Пикассо изображал этого полушута-полуактера не на сцене, а в повседневной обстановке — в кругу семьи или в окружении любимцев-животных. Его пластичное тело — сгусток эмоций. В более интимной обстановке он представлен нянчащим ребенка в то время, как его нагая жена расчесывает волосы. В картине «Семья акробата с обезьяной» Пикассо показывает молодую мать с ребенком и еще один важный персонаж его картин — обезьяну. Иногда Арлекин предстает маленьким ребенком или стариком на фоне пейзажа, путешествующим в компании с акробатом или собакой, или просто стоящим в стороне и безучастно взирающим на своих друзей.
И хотя образы, как и герои его произведений прошлого периода, одиноки и живут в собственном, изолированном мире, в них ощущается какое-то спокойствие, которое, очевидно, отражало душевный покой, обретенный Пикассо в любви к красавице Фернанде. Две акварельные миниатюры, созданные осенью 1904 года, показывают человека, в одном случае явно самого Пикассо, созерцающего сокровище, которым можно обладать даже в бедности, — спящую нагую красавицу. Это первая картина на тему, к которой он будет неоднократно возвращаться в будущем и использовать ее в различных вариантах.
В «цирковой» период навевающий грусть голубой цвет начинает уступать место мягкой, ласкающей глаз гамме розовых цветов, а на смену изможденным телам стариков приходят источающие нежность полнокровные юноши. Артисты цирка уже не представлены бедняками-одиночками; они повсюду окружены коллегами. Место бледных, высохших, бедствующих калек занимают грациозные фигуры юношей, по виду напоминающие, как это ни странно, девушек.
Towards Guernica — Pablo Picasso’s Visual Experiments and Context
In the mid-1920s, around the time Pablo Picasso became actively involved with Surrealism, he was mainly painting interiors with still lifes, featuring objects like musical instruments and fruits. He used these traditional themes to experiment with his ideas of breaking the form and presenting the composition from multiple perspectives — aspects that soon became fundamental to Cubism.
However, as Pablo viewed painting as a personal experience that needed to correlate with the state of his inner life, the interior space of his works soon became claustrophobic. This shift occurred during World War I, a period Picasso and the Surrealists spent examining the dark corners of the human psyche. The Three Dancers (1925) is a prime example of Picasso’s work of this era.
Another theme seemed to be quite vital to Pablo’s body of work back then — women. Notorious for his turbulent and numerous relationships, Picasso may have portrayed his lovers with affection in private works, but his public pieces often took a much grimmer perspective.
In the years leading up to the creation of Guernica painting, other artworks and sketches reveal the artist’s ruminations on the symbolism conveyed through manipulation of the female body — these experimentations, along with the aforementioned unique treatment of pictorial space, found their natural resolutions in Guernica.
Why Do the Previous Works Matter So Much?
The reason we insisted on quickly analyzing the painter’s previous artistic stages is that, despite the fact Picasso’s Guernica was indeed painted impressively quickly, it didn’t come out of nowhere. This painting is a result of years of artistic production and visual experimentation, as well as the artist’s personal investment in the fraught politics of Spain.
Guernica was a culmination of Pablo Picasso’s artistic endeavors and inner life, a piece that can not be examined without taking a look at the bigger picture. In many ways, it can be observed as Pablo’s crown piece — all of the visual features he became renowned for were placed inside Guernica‘s composition and no other painting of modern art reached the kind of cult status this artwork possesses.
Photo of Pablo Picasso, image via pinterest.com
The Events Surrounding the Guernica Creation
The Spanish Republican government, then in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, had asked Pablo Picasso to create a painting for its pavilion at the Paris International Exposition of 1937. While the German and Soviet pavilions at the same event were gigantic architectural displays of authority and power, the Spanish Republic, desperately in need of financial support, opted for a modest structure filled with world-class modern art.
The Republic called upon authors at the forefront of the 1930s avant-garde, hiring artists like Joan Miró and Alexander Calder. Pablo Picasso accepted the commission without much thought in January 1937, agreeing to do a mural-sized painting for his beloved Spanish Republic.
Interestingly, Picasso’s original plan for his work was decidedly apolitical despite the fact the Spanish Republic government insisted that the piece must carry a strong political message. Not sure what he should paint at first, the artist initially prepared to create a composition depicting a painter in his studio, facing a nude model who lies on a sofa.
However, it was a tragic event that changed Pablo’s mind, making him change the course of his design entirely.
People Sitting in Front of a Guernica Copy, image via arthive.com
Spanish Civil War 1937 — The Bombing of Guernica
On the 26th of April in 1937, Francisco Franco ordered the hired Nazi Condor Legion to drop bombs over the small town of Guernica. The bombing was to take place during a market day, which meant that civilians, predominantly women and children as men were off fighting the war, would be outdoors in public squares. As the first place where democracy was established in Spain’s Basque region, the town of Guernica was a symbolic target.
The brutal bombing that took place on that day killed hundreds of people and was the first instance in the Spanish Civil War in which a defenseless city was attacked. Like countless others, Picasso opened his morning newspaper on April 27th to find images of the destruction of Guernica. Pictures and stories covering the event devastated the artist who was at that time already well-accustomed to living in Paris, the City of Light.
Since Picasso was a dedicated leftist and the idea of war lingered in his mind ever since he was criticized for not fighting in World War I, the bombing of Guernica struck him with a particular force. After a few days of processing his emotions, he took to his studio onRue des Grands Augustins and began new sketches for the Republic’s commission.
In just a month and a half, the immense mural was completed — the Surrealist artist Dora Maar captured the various stages of the composition of Picasso’s Guernica in a series of photographs, some of which we displayed in this article. In July, Picasso delivered the finished work to the Republican pavilion where it quickly became the centerpiece of the show, flanked by Calder’s Mercury Fountain (1937) and Miro’s The Reaper (1937), both of which can be interpreted as pivotal pieces of the artists’ careers.
Picasso’s Guernica, image by Joaquín Cortés and Román Lores
A Picture of Human Tragedy
Guernica is painted in oil and in monochrome colors of black, grey and white, a feature that further emphasizes the weight of the depicted event. The picture is full of symbols and its overall theme is one of suffering. The piece portrays a frenzied tangle of six human figures (four women, a man and a child), a horse and a bull.
Everything transpires within a claustrophobic low-ceiling space found below an overhead lamp that appears to burst with brightness — this light bulb is believed to be a metaphor for the bombing as Spanish words for bombs and light bulbs sound fairly similar.
Interestingly, hints of Picasso’s original composition remained in the completed painting as Pablo opted to keep the initial traces of interior that was supposed to represent an artist’s studio.
Photo of Pablo Picasso Working on Guernica, image via redd.it
Figures in Picasso’s Guernica
While Picasso never made explicit to the public the symbolism behind each of Guernica’s figures and objects, much of it can be taken at face value despite the fact art historians love to split hairs over the intentions behind nearly every brushstroke. Most direct figures are the contorted expressions of the women suffering physical agony and anguish. Their desperation is presented through sharp, pointed tongues and their sorrow through tear-shaped eyes.
On the far left of the Guernica painting, one woman wails towards the sky while cradling a lifeless child in her arms; another roars, her arms shooting upward as she’s consumed in flames; another emerges from an open window, wielding a torch and breathing hope into the piece as if she’s telling that all is not lost.
On the floor, a figure who has been identified as a soldier, lies in pieces, probably a personification of the fledgling Republic. He holds a flower in his hand.
While the figures of women and the soldier are conceptually quite straightforward, the bull and horse have drawn varying interpretations over the years. Most art historians like to trace the animals’ roles back to the traditional Spanish bullfights where horses can become collateral damage at times and the bull is stabbed repeatably until death.
However, some speculations have theorized that the bull, which lacks the emotional expression of the rest of the figures, is an emblem of Franco or fascism. These theories indicate that it is precisely the bull that is tearing the town apart, which would explain its emotionless eyes.
There are also theories that claim Pablo was inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.
The Fate of the Picasso Painting
Following the closing of the Paris Expo, Guernica went on a tour in Europe. After the civil war ended and Franco took power as the Republic folded their arms, the painting continued to travel with aims of helping raise funds for Spanish Republican refugees who had fled the country in time. It was featured in the 1939 Picasso survey exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, after which Picasso would insist that MoMA act as Guernica’s guardian from that point on.
Between 1939 and 1952, Picasso’s Guernica traveled to art institutions across the United States, in Brazil and all over western Europe. In 1958, the piece was returned to MoMA and deemed no longer fit to travel — decades of transport took its toll and left the painting in a precarious physical state. It remained in New York until 1981 when it was brought back to Spain, to Museo Reina Sofia, as per Pablo’s wishes who insisted that the piece must not be returned to the Spanish soil until Franco was dead.
Although this was a fairly personal reasoning, it also made a lot of sense for the safety of Guernica — the artwork would certainly be destroyed almost immediately if it came back during Franco’s reign.
People Protesting Using Guernica details — Image by C. Elle