Who owns “Guernica?”
Picasso’s “Guernica” currently resides in Madrid, but it has traveled to many regions of the world over its lifetime. Where it calls “home,” however, is immaterial – it is a work that transcends locations and time, for it is applicable to every place and every age.
It started out as a reaction to a specific event during the Spanish Civil war in the 1940s. It was a source of nationalist pride, but its significance is transferable to any situation. It eventually was sent to the Unites States where it was used in campaigns to raise money and aid for Spanish refugees. When “Guernica” was kept at the MOMA during the 70s, it was the site of numerous anti-war vigils. Its display of the terrors of war is equally significant now, in light of the events in Afghanistan and Iraq. The pained and tortured faces are just as easily seen as being Iraqi as they are Basque.
Who “owns” “Guernica”? Where is its message most powerful? The answer is everyone owns “Guernica”, and everywhere is where its message is most powerful. Its message, the horrors and injustices of violence and war, is universal. People of every race and nationality, of every period of time, of every religion, and victims of any injustice can find their faces in the work. Art at its finest is not applicable or powerful only under specific circumstances – it can be experienced fully, with all its vitality and power, sublimity and awesomeness, wherever it is found, provided it truly taps into what makes us human. That is why “Guernica” has endured as one of the world’s greatest works – it has no affiliation - political, ethnic, ideological or religious - except with justice and humanity.
~Christina Marinelli