Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on simon schama's power of art episode on pablo picasso.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on simon schama's power of art episode on pablo picasso. “Guernica” made history not only during Picasso’s time. the disturbing piece still makes history until our present day. The historical value of this piece is undeniable since this painting was the result of the emotions that flooded the artist after the bombing of the small Spanish Basque town of Guernica. The bombing was condemned by many nations and Picasso shared their sentiments surprisingly because he was known as an artist who had no political inclinations. The documentary further mentioned that when Europe was in the war, several of Picasso’s contemporary artists one of which is George Grosz uses art to convey political messages but Picasso still chose to paint women and other subjects that totally had not even a tiny speck of political leaning.

In the documentary, the historical impact of the dreadful bombing of Guernica and the creation of Picasso’s equally impacting piece, “Guernica” made Picasso to finally come out of his self-absorbed world and take his political stand. The little town was bombed in broad daylight and without any warning. The brutality and the slaughter of innocent people of the small Spanish town stirred Picasso having Spanish roots he knew that these innocent people were mercilessly bombed just to show off the power of the Germans who were then seen as political villains.

“Guernica” which is 11 feet tall and 25.6 feet wide, was done in black and white that gives the ghastly scene a subtle touch. The dead horses, a crying woman with a dead child in her arms, and the chaotic scene would be too harsh to the eyes if it were in full color. The turmoil alone in the piece is enough to arouse emotions and cause disturbance to the viewer as if reliving the horror of the bombing of the small Spanish town.