The Mural of Picasso’s Guernica
More information
Address
Located on the same street as the Gernika Assembly House and the Euskal Herria Museum.
When was it erected here?
The mural was installed in 1997 to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing.
What size is it?
The mosaic is a life-size reproduction of the original (3.49 m. x 7.77 m.).
Where is the original?
Picasso's “Guernica” first arrived in Spain on the 10th of September 1981. In 1992, after having been on display for a number of years in the Casón del Buen Retiro, it was moved to its current location: the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid.
What does the painting mean?
Expert interpretations
Countless interpretations of Picasso’s brilliant work abound today, some of which can be found on the Reina Sofía Museum’s own website:
Picasso’s own interpretation
When asked about the meaning of the painting, the artist had this to say:
“...But this bull is a bull, and this horse is a horse. There’s also a kind of bird, a chicken or a pigeon, I can’t remember exactly, on a table. And this chicken is a chicken. Of course, they’re symbols. It isn’t up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must see in the horse and in the bull, symbols they must interpret as they understand them. There are some animals. That’s what they are, animals, slaughtered animals. As far as I am concerned, that is all. It’s up to the public to see what it wants to see…”.
What does the inscription beneath the mural mean?
“GUERNICA" GERNIKARA
At the bottom of this breath-taking mural there is an inscription that expresses the wish of the people of Gernika that the painting should be exhibited in the town that inspired its creator: Gernika. It literally means: The “Guernica” in Gernika.
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The bombing of Gernika in 1937: the massacre that inspired Picasso
The town was bombed on the 26th of April 1937
This interactive museum takes us back to the 26th of April 1937, the day on which bombs and fire reduced the streets of the town of Gernika to rubble.
