Guernica Project Y6 Clare House Primary School

Guernica (pronounced - ɡernika) is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country, in Spain. It was founded on April 28 in 1366 and presently has a population of nearly 17,000.

On a small hillock in the town, stands the Meeting House and the Tree of Guernica. By ancient tradition, Basques, and indeed other peoples in Medieval Europe, held assemblies under a tree, usually an oak, to discuss matters affecting the community.

The oak tree stood for many years as a symbol of time, power, authority, wisdom and knowledge. Overtime it became an icon for the town.

Guernica grew overtime, becoming a very rich and prosperous town; home to developing trade and businesses, writers, artists, politicians and great thinkers of the time. The people of Guernica were very proud of their history, their language, their culture and how they had developed as a community overtime.

Pablo Picasso is one of the most important artists in recent history. This key Spanish artist changed the way we think about our world and how we can represent and express our thoughts and ideas through Art. During the Spanish civil war, like many artists, writers and politicians, Pablo Picasso was exiled from Spain due to his political beliefs. When he heard about the German Nazi attack on the town of Guernica he was shocked at the needless death of so many women and children and the suffering of his fellow countrymen. He decided to make a large scale painting called Guernica that would act as a visual symbol against the destruction of war and send a message to all about the devastating impact that war has on the ordinary civilians. Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention. This work is seen as an amalgamation of pastoral and epic styles. The discarding of colour intensifies the drama, producing a reportage quality as in a photographic record. Guernica is blue, black and white, 3.5 meters (11 ft) tall and 7.8 meters (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil. This painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.

In the painting Guernica we see many different figures and characters as we scan the image from left to right with our eyes. There is a woman holding her baby with her head bent back screaming into the night sky. There is the image of a bull or the mythical creature called a minotaur, perhaps a symbol of evil and death, perhaps a symbol for the German Nazis or the Spanish leader Franco who ordered the bombing of Guernica. We see a body dead on the floor with a broken sword in his hand, a symbol of lost hope and that the fight has been lost. But in the centre of this huge painting is a horse with its head pointing up into the light. The horse is used as a symbol of hope, a symbol or freedom, turning into the light and finding a way out from all this pain...

Using the paper slip provided write a paragraph about your PERSONAL response to the painting GUERNICA. Ask yourself questions such as - What do I know about this painting? Why was it painted? Who painted it? What are the key/main characters in the painting? What does the painting mean or symbolise? How to you feel about this painting and what happened?

Stick your photocopy of the painting Guernica into your sketchbook and then stick your PERSONAL text response under the image. Remember to put the title at the top of your page GUERNICA and the date. Write out your learning aim.

Stick you final 16 x drawing page into your sketchbook. Add the title and date and then add some text to explain what you did, what you used, and what you think of your outcome...