Today we visited the Reina Sofia Museum, which houses many of Picasso’s artwork, the most famous being Guernica. As an art enthusiast and artist myself, these museums are always a welcome experience for me. I was especially excited to see Guernica because I first learned about it in eighth grade Spanish and I would finally be able to see it. A good majority of the museum is dedicated to inspecting and dissecting this piece, as it is one of the most influential masterpieces in the 20th century. To give a little background, the small Spanish town of Guernica was bombed in 1937 by Francisco Franco. Picasso had not been in Spain for three years, but he saw pictures of the catastrophe and was inspired to paint the aftermath. It was very interesting to read about people’s interpretations of the painting, as Picasso himself refused to give his interpretation. When asked, he replied, “the bull is a bull and the horse is a horse.” However despite this witty remark, Guernica is swimming with symbolism such as loss of innocence and the injustice of mankind. The most interesting thing to see aside from the actual painting was another artist painted his interpretation of Guernica in the peaceful moments before the impending attack.
Although photos are prohibited in most of the museum, including Guernica, we were forced to take quick pictures of each other trying to pose as casually as possible in front of painting before museum security saw. Enjoy this nervous picture of me in front of , where you can see the fear of God (or museum security) in my eyes.