50 Fun Facts About Guernica

Guernica, the great anti-war mural of 1937, was painted by which artist?

Many critics call it the most powerful anti-war painting in history; it toured the world raising money for Spanish war relief.

The painting Guernica responds to a bombing during which conflict?

The war between the Republic and Franco's Nationalists ran from 1936 to 1939, and the painting helped bring it worldwide attention.

To which museum was Guernica moved in 1992?

It moved there in 1992 with about two dozen preparatory works, a controversial step since Picasso's will named the Prado.

Guernica is painted in which palette?

Some argue the stark monochrome came from Dora Maar's photography, giving the canvas the immediacy of a news picture.

Roughly how wide is the Guernica canvas?

It stands about 3.49 metres tall, so it needed a studio big enough to hold it; Dora Maar found one on the Rue des Grands-Augustins.

Which two animals are the dominant creatures in the composition of Guernica?

Pressed for their meaning, Picasso insisted 'this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse'.

The bombing of Guernica took place on which date?

It was a Monday, and market day, so the town was crowded with people from the surrounding countryside.

The German air unit that carried out the raid on Guernica was known by what name?

Hitler sent it to support Franco, and Italy's Aviazione Legionaria took part alongside it.

The raid on Guernica was carried out under which code name?

Its stated aim was to destroy the bridges and roads a Republican retreat toward Bilbao would have to use.

The German officer who chose Guernica as a target was a younger cousin of which WWI figure?

Wolfram von Richthofen wrote 'Guernica burning' in his diary the day after the raid.

Guernica lies in which Basque province?

It sits about 30 kilometres east of Bilbao and had a population of around 7,000 at the time of the bombing.

Which British journalist's eyewitness account of the Guernica bombing alerted the world and Picasso?

Picasso read the report on 1 May and abandoned the artist's-studio theme he had been sketching for the Paris pavilion.

Guernica was commissioned for the Spanish pavilion at a 1937 international exposition in which city?

At the unveiling the mural drew little attention, and some Spanish officials wanted to replace it with a more traditional painting.

Which poet visited Picasso right after the bombing to urge him to paint it for his mural?

Until then Picasso had been working, somewhat listlessly, on sketches of an artist's studio.

Which photographer and Picasso companion found the studio for Guernica and documented its creation?

At Picasso's request she even painted part of the dying horse herself.

Guernica was executed in what medium, formulated at Picasso's request to have the least possible gloss?

American artist John Ferren helped him prepare the huge canvas.

Roughly how long did Picasso spend painting Guernica before finishing it on 4 June 1937?

Unusually for him, he let influential visitors watch him work, believing the publicity would help the anti-fascist cause.

In Guernica, what grows from the shattered sword clutched by the dead soldier's severed hand?

His other palm bears a stigma, a mark of martyrdom borrowed from the stigmata of Christ.

What blazes over the head of the suffering horse in Guernica, shaped like an all-seeing eye?

A woman leaning through a window holds an oil lamp right next to it, setting old light against new.

A 'hidden' image in Guernica is formed by the horse's nostrils and upper teeth. What do they resemble?

Another hidden bull appears to gore the horse from below, its head formed by the horse's front leg.

In Guernica, the right hand of the woman trapped by fire on the far right suggests the shape of what?

Her wide-open mouth and thrown-back head echo the grieving mother on the far left holding a dead child.

What did Picasso reportedly reply when a German officer saw a photo of Guernica and asked 'Did you do that?'?

The anecdote is widely repeated, though like many Picasso stories it is impossible to verify.

Which poet's 'The Victory of Guernica' accompanied the painting at the 1937 Paris pavilion?

The pavilion also showed Joan Miró's The Reaper and Alexander Calder's Mercury Fountain.

Which notorious deal was signed on 30 September 1938, the day Guernica arrived in London for exhibition?

Sir Roland Penrose organised the show with Labour leader Clement Attlee, and it later hung in a Manchester Ford car showroom.

For most of the period from 1939 to 1981, Guernica was kept for safekeeping at which institution?

Picasso stipulated it should not go to Spain until liberty and democracy had been restored there.

In 1974 Tony Shafrazi defaced Guernica with red spray paint. What words did he write?

He was ostensibly protesting the treatment of Lieutenant William Calley over the My Lai massacre; the varnish let the paint come off easily.

In what year did MoMA finally cede Guernica to Spain?

It went on show behind bullet-proof glass at the Casón del Buen Retiro in time for the centenary of Picasso's birth that October.

Why was MoMA reluctant to hand Guernica over after the 1978 democratic constitution?

Franco had wanted the painting as early as 1968, but Picasso refused while he was in power; both men died in the 1970s.

A tapestry copy of Guernica hangs at the UN in New York at the entrance to which chamber?

Nelson Rockefeller commissioned it in 1955 after Picasso refused to sell him the original; it uses several shades of brown.

In February 2003 the UN's Guernica tapestry was curtained off during press conferences about which impending war?

Officials said TV crews complained about the backdrop; diplomats suggested US pressure, since Colin Powell was making the case for war in front of it.

Who commissioned the Guernica tapestry in 1955 after Picasso refused to sell him the original?

His estate lent it to the UN in 1985, and his son took it back in 2021 before it returned in 2022.

General Queipo de Llano claimed the day after the bombing that the town had been destroyed by whom?

He called the international reporters liars, but other journalists confirmed Steer's account of the destruction.

How many deaths did the Basque government report at the time of the Guernica bombing, later revised sharply down?

Local historians identified 126 victims, later revised to 153, while a British source cited by the USAF Air War College says around 400.

Which German president wrote to Guernica survivors in 1997 apologising for Germany's role in the war?

The letter came on the 60th anniversary of Operation Rügen.

The bombing of Guernica opened the way for Franco's capture of which major city?

Guernica sat between the Nationalists and their goal, and any Republican retreat had to pass through it.

The Tree of Gernika, symbol of Basque liberties, is what kind of tree?

Lords of Biscay swore to respect Biscayan liberties beneath it, and the modern Basque president still takes the oath of office there.

Which group guarded the Tree of Gernika from Falangists who wanted to fell it after Franco's troops took the town?

The Tercio of Begoña stood guard over the oak, which had survived the bombing but later died of a fungus in 2004.

The provincial laws continued to be drawn up under the Tree of Gernika until which year?

Each town sent two representatives to the General Assemblies, an early democracy noted by Rousseau and Wordsworth.

The town of Guernica was founded in 1366 by Tello Alfonso, who held which title?

He placed it where the Bermeo–Durango road crossed the Bilbao road, near a port on the estuary.

Guernica is twinned with Pforzheim in Germany and with which US city?

Idaho's capital has one of the largest Basque communities in the United States.

A 1990 sculpture called Large Figure in a Shelter stands in Guernica as a peace monument. Who made it?

It stands beside Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida's 1988 monument Gure Aitaren Etxea, 'Our Father's House'.

Which director made a short 1950 film titled Guernica about the painting and the bombing?

The bombing also inspired René Magritte's Le Drapeau Noir and a woodcut by Heinz Kiwitz, who later died fighting in the International Brigades.

Which art critic dismissed Guernica as 'jerky' and preferred Picasso's The Charnel House?

Marxist groups also complained the mural offered no vision of a better future.

Which actress has part of Guernica tattooed on her forearm after seeing it in Madrid at 18?

She said the 'little shred of light' in the picture is what stayed with her.

Since the 1990s Basque nationalists have campaigned to move Guernica to which museum?

Reina Sofía officials say the canvas is too fragile to move, and even the Bilbao staff doubt a permanent transfer is possible.

On which Paris street was the studio where Picasso painted Guernica?

Dora Maar found the space, near Notre-Dame, through her left-wing connections.

Which two artists' works, The Reaper and Mercury Fountain, shared the 1937 Spanish pavilion with Guernica?

Both Joan Miró and Alexander Calder were sympathetic to the Republican cause.

In which unusual venue did Guernica go on show in Manchester in early 1939?

Manchester Foodship For Spain hosted it for two weeks in the HE Nunn & Co showroom to raise money for Spanish war relief.

Where in Madrid was Guernica first displayed after returning to Spain in September 1981?

It sat behind bomb- and bullet-proof glass in time for the centenary of Picasso's birth on 25 October.

Which American artist helped Picasso prepare the monumental canvas for Guernica?

Picasso finished the work in about 36 days, with Dora Maar photographing every phase.