ART FOR PEACE: GUERNICA BY PABLO PICASSO (SPRING 2026)

 


Roger Conant, founder of Salem and Beverly, has been celebrated both in the UK and the US for his diplomacy and peacemaking in a time of turmoil. In the run-up to East Budleigh’s Peacemaker Festival, to be held on 15-17 May this year in his honour, local artists, writers and musicians have been thinking of how creativity can be used in the cause of peace. 

 ‘My first choice of an anti-war painting by a long way would be ‘Guernica' by Picasso, which I have seen in Madrid,’ writes Alan Cotton MBE, one of Britain’s most distinguished landscape artists, an East Devon resident. ‘A stunning, large scale piece of work about the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.’ 

 It was on 26 April 1937 that Guernica, a town in the Basque province of Spain was razed to the ground after being attacked over a period of three hours by aircraft of Nazi Germany’s Condor Legion and Fascist Italy’s Aviazione Legionaria. 

 



Franco in 1930. Photo by Jalón Ángel - Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa RETRATO FOTOGRÁFICO DEL GENERALÍSIMO D. FRANCISCO FRANCO BAHAMONDE (MUE-120279); Wikipedia

The attack was carried out at the request of the Nationalist leader Francisco Franco as part of his strategy to overthrow the Spanish Republican government and the Basque government. Historians today believe that around 300 civilians died.  

The Bombing of Guernica is considered the first example of terror bombing civilian targets, devised by the Nazi Luftwaffe air force in order to demoralize the enemy. 


Picasso in 1962. Image: Argentina. Revista Vea y Lea; Wikipedia 

 The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso carried out the work over 35 days at his home in Paris, completing his masterpiece on 4 June 1937. The painting measures 3.49 meters high and 7.76 meters wide – 11 feet in height and 25 feet in width.   

Interpretations of ‘Guernica’ vary widely and contradict one another, but the artist was clear on one point. ‘In the panel on which I am working, which I call Guernica,’ he said, ‘I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain into an ocean of pain and death’. Later, asked to speak at the 1950 Peace Congress in Sheffield, UK, he said: ‘I stand for life against death; I stand for peace against war.’ Guernica was not exhibited in Spain until 1981; the artist allowed it to be seen in his homeland only when democracy had been restored. The painting is now on display at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. 

 An account of the painting, including some helpful comments on its symbolism and interpretations, can be found at https://smarthistory.org/picasso-guernica/ 



East Devon artist Alan Cotton’s work was included in the 2025 Tour Artists' Exhibition at Buckingham Palace. The artist and his wife Tricia are seen here in conversation with King Charles. Information about Alan Cotton MBE and his work is on his website at www.alancotton.co.uk 

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