SAMPLE ESSAY 1Cultural History Summer 2009
19 June 2009
Guernica by Picasso
In Picasso’s Guernica, the artist makes use of geometric shapes and chiaroscuro to
portray his societal commentary. The painting appears to be separated into thirds, with the first
third covering the bull, the middle third covering the horse, and the far right third covering the
two women and the trapped man. The area where the two light sources create an area of lighter
values is located in the middle third and caught my attention when I first looked at Guernica due
to the fact that it was significantly lighter than the rest of the piece. The horse is constructed of
several geometric shapes and appears to have several wounds, including glass embedded in his
side, a spear lodged in his back, and a gaping wound on his side. This produces a very chaotic
mood, which continues throughout the painting. Picasso makes use of several artistic methods to
portray this.
The aspect of color is clearly used to portray a gloomy and chaotic mood in Guernica.
Picasso uses only shades of black and white to convey a sense of sadness, suffering, and
gloominess. The color choice shows how Picasso wants to emphasize the negative connotation
associated with these gloomy colors. The representational meaning behind the use of neutral
colors is not only to convey gloominess but also to portray the idea of the newspaper, which is
also portrayed through the use of line. The newspaper represents how he found out about the
aerial bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica, one of the first of its kind, and got the idea for
making the piece to protest the war and the new dictatorial regime. The idea of newspaper is not
only portrayed through the use of neutral colors but also through the newspaper print that
appears on the body of the horse.
Along with using the newspaper to portray his protest to the war, Picasso creates several
gruesome images of suffering to create a mood of chaos and confusion. There are several
examples of extreme suffering throughout the painting, which Picasso uses to protest the war,
beginning in the far left. Here, there is a women is extreme pain being trampled by a bull. She
appears to be severely injured and entangled with another person. Moving to the right, a man is
sprawled across the floor. His left hand is severely swollen, and he has several cuts on his hands
and arms. His wincing facial expression also shows suffering and his right hand is holding a
broken dagger, a symbol of war. Furthermore, he is being trampled by the horse. The fact that
the bull and the horse are trampling the humans might suggest that the animals represent the new
dictatorship coming into Spain and symbolically trampling the people of Spain. The
representational meaning behind this painting is used to portray Picasso’s protest to the war.
It is ironic that the light source, which usually carries a positive connotation, is painted
with jagged edges to portray chaos. The light source casts a highlight on two women in pain to
the right of the painting. This is the brightest part of the painting and attracts my attention to this
section. The first woman is looking at the horse with a grimace while she holds her severely
swollen leg. The second woman, also expressing pain, is above her with her head sticking out of
a window while she holds a candle out in front of her towards the horse. The darkest part of the
painting is farthest to the right, where a man has his hands in the air and appears to be in pain.
He appears to be in a jail-like structure, as suggested by the small window behind him.
There are many similarities among the faces of the people who are suffering. This might
suggest that they are from the same group, possibly those suffering as a result of the war, such as
the citizens who oppose the new regime or people who protest the war (writers, painters, like
Picasso). Clearly Picasso is trying to portray his social commentary on the war.
Picasso’s artistic style, such as his use of geometric shapes, his unusual placement of
facial features, and his use of neutral colors, is probably the most effective way in which he
portrays his protest against the war and the chaos it has caused. His style contains many rough,
jagged geometric shapes that illustrate suffering and chaos. There is also very prominent
chiaroscuro and abrupt transition between light and dark colors. For instance, there is a drastic
transition from light shades of gray in the area around the faces of the two women to the area
with the man farthest to the right. Furthermore, the facial features on the humans and animals
are often misplaced. His unique style is used to emphasize the suffering and chaos going on at
the time.
Line is used to portray suffering. For example, on the hand and arms of the man lying on
the bottom left of the screen, there are several sharp, sporadic lines. This emphasizes the theme
of chaos and suffering and gives a feel of anger and pain. Another example of line is on the light
bulb where there are sharp lines around the light to create a chaotic feel. This is quite ironic
considering the positive connotation that light carries. The jagged lines around light successfully
portray a feeling of chaos because they appear to be very random and geometric.
In the horse located in the middle of the piece, line is used to outline the organic shape of
the horse but many geometric shapes are enclosed within the horse. Several lines within the
body of the horse create these geometric shapes. Whereas the line that outlines the horse depicts
motion, the lines inside create these jagged shapes which, in turn, create a chaotic mood. The
shapes inside the horse are very rough and create a feeling of pain, suffering, and gloominess.
Picasso’s use of value differs from many other artists. Picasso portrays value by
transitioning between darker and lighter shades of gray among the geometric shapes in the
painting whereas many other artists would use shading to portray value. Picasso uses shading
very rarely throughout the piece, most prominently on the neck of the horse and the body of the
bull. This adds depth perception and a three dimensional illusion to these sections which appears
nowhere else in the painting.
The most prominent geometric shape that dominates the piece and separates it into thirds
is the large triangle that builds up to the light at the apex. This is created by the strong highlight
coming from the light source which spreads out across the painting. This focuses the attention of
the viewer to the light and the highlighted section of the piece by the body of the horse and the
faces of the women. Considering the fact that the light creates an area brighter than any other in
piece, it might suggest the presence of a higher being or God.
When I first looked at the piece, Guernica gave me the immediate sense of chaos.
However, after analyzing it, it appears that there is more organization than first came to mind.
Despite the confusing and chaotic mood of the piece, caused by the very geometric artistic style
Picasso uses, there are many, clearly defined objects in the piece, such as the horse, the bull, and
the humans, that are portrayed in a relatively realistic way (especially compared to the geometric
portrayal of most other objects). These things did not become clear to me until I analyzed the
piece at length. Picasso was successful in portraying a sense of chaos through his use of
geometric shapes, chiaroscuro, and neutral color choice while still including many clear organic
images with surprising organization.
I chose to analyze and critique Guernica because I believe that the representational and
historical meaning behind it is intriguing. Picasso was clearly motivated to make Guernica to
create a societal commentary and he does so by using shape, line, and color to portray a mood of
chaos.
Cultural History Writing Assignment
For this essay, I have asked you to critique a great work of art. You should employ the principles of color
theory (if applicable) and design in your critique, using appropriate terminology from both fields. In
addition to analyzing the piece from a technical perspective, I want you to include your own personal
reactions to the piece. Your essay should be written in clear, sophisticated prose, and it should have a
clear organization. The essay should be a minimum of 750 words.
Rubric
__________
Use of Color Theory and Design Theory (40 pts)
__________
Clear, Sophisticated Prose (30 pts)
__________
Organization (10 pts)
__________
Personal Reaction (20 pts)