Visual Rhetoric
Katie Harrison
Guernica by Picasso
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/society_culture/wars_were_ever_thus.htm
• What stands out to you when you look at the
painting? Why do you think the painting is so
abstract?
• What stands out to you when you look at the
painting?
What stands out to me is the disorder in the painting. Nothing is really very clear. The
figures are misshapen and not easily identified.
Background
• On April 26th 1937, a massive air raid by the
German Luftwaffe on the town of Guernica in
Northern Spain shocked the world. Hundreds of
civilians were killed in the raid which became a
major incident of the Spanish Civil War.
• Despite the enormous interest the painting
generated in his lifetime, Picasso refused to
explain his painting.
http://web.org.uk/picasso/secret_guernica.html
Proportion
• If the painting was zoomed in on the horse,
would the painting have the same effect?
Proportion
• If the painting was zoomed in on the horse,
would the painting have the same effect?
No, because you could not have seen what was going on around
the animal. It would have been hard to understand that the picture
was about the suffering of not just animals, but humans too.
Purpose
• The painting was made shortly after the
bombing on Guernica to show the
destruction. It makes me think that people
who see this will realize how war is such a bad
thing because of the suffering of the people in
the painting.
• Now that you know a little about the
background of this painting, how does it effect
your outlook on the painting itself?
• Now that you know a little about the
background of this painting, how does it effect
your outlook on the painting itself?
After knowing that the painting was about a bombing on a Spanish city, it made me look a
little deeper at the painting. When I looked again the distortion of the bodies in the
painting stood out more and took on a different meaning, that these were real people
suffering after a brutal attack.
Ethos
• Picasso has made many paintings in his life, do
you think he is a reliable painter?
Yes, because he is a very famous painter and if
his works were fake then he would not be so
well liked.
Pathos
• What emotions does this painting evoke?
• When I first looked at it I was confused
because I couldn’t really tell what was going
on in the painting, but after I looked at it and
understood what was happening, I was sad
and felt sorry for the people in the painting.
Logos
• This painting appeals to your logic because it
is distorted and does not give you an
obviously clear message. You have to look
again and think about what is happening in
the painting.