A Three-Dimensional Tour of Picasso's "Guernica"
A 3-D video takes us through Picasso’s most famous painting with emphasis on darkness and form.
“No, painting is not made to decorate rooms. It’s an instrument of offensive and defensive war against the enemy.” Thus spoke Pablo Picasso of his work. Guernica, created in 1937, is the only work of its kind that expresses the tragedy and gloom of war through metaphor. A pictorial sign, it proclaims, in fact, a rejection of all military confrontation and any violence.
The now legendary painting was commissioned by the government of the Spanish Republic and created a few months after the bombing of the town of Guernica. The painting was thus entitled to represent the country in the Spanish pavilion at the annual fine arts exhibition in Paris. At the same time, it was intended as a channel for information about the role of the Republicans in the Spanish civil war to the larger world. And so it was. Picasso’s Guernica became an icon of the 20th century and initiated a series of Avante-Garde demands for freedom.
For those who enjoy the more subjective details, or even the paroxysm that such paintings provoke, Guernica expresses particularities that projecting beyond a manifesto, a feeling of fin de siècle, or even the end of history. One such detail is not tied to the figures within the painting, but to the overall appearance of the work, and is its dark monochrome. Guernica is finely detailed for its dark, stormy scene. It’s one in which the contrast within the range of the grayscale comes only from lightness and darkness. Perhaps this helped to make it appropriate for Lena Gieseke to build a 3D version of the painting.
Gieseke, a visual artist, actress, and wife of the filmmaker, Tim Burton, allows us to observe the work from some of its deepest secrets. The video splits each of the characters, allowing viewers to glimpse them from another perspective, and perhaps from a more sculptural angle, the feelings of the faces. The film culminates with the hand attesting to the indignation, with the broken sword at the center of the flower only barely visible.
The bull, the mother with her dead son, the dove, the horse or the light bulb. These and other characters within the painting will remind any art lover of Rubens’ Consequences of War, both beautiful allegories of the darkness of violence and suffering.
Related Articles
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
There are numerous examples in the history of self-taught artists which suggest an interrogation of that which we take for granted within the universe of art. Such was the case with figures like
Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
Fairy tales tribal stories— are more than childish tales. Such fictions, the characters of which inhabit our earliest memories, aren’t just literary works with an aesthetic and pleasant purpose. They
A cinematic poem and an ode to water: its rhythms, shapes and textures
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. - John Keats Without water the equation of life, at least life as we know it, would be impossible. A growing hypothesis holds that water, including the
Watch beauty unfold through science in this "ode to a flower" (video)
The study of the microscopic is one of the richest, most aesthetic methods of understanding the world. Lucky is the scientist who, upon seeing something beautiful, is able to see all of the tiny
To invent those we love or to see them as they are? Love in two of the movies' favorite scenes
So much has been said already, of “love” that it’s difficult to add anything, much less something new. It’s possible, though, perhaps because even if you try to pass through the sieve of all our
This app allows you to find and preserve ancient typographies
Most people, even those who are far removed from the world of design, are familiar with some type of typography and its ability to transform any text, help out dyslexics or stretch an eight page paper
The secrets of the mind-body connection
For decades medical research has recognized the existence of the placebo effect — in which the assumption that a medication will help produces actual physical improvements. In addition to this, a
The sea as infinite laboratory
Much of our thinking on the shape of the world and the universe derives from the way scientists and artists have approached these topics over time. Our fascination with the mysteries of the
Sharing and collaborating - natural movements of the creative being
We might sometimes think that artistic or creative activity is, in essence, individualistic. The Genesis of Judeo-Christian tradition portrays a God whose decision to create the world is as vehement
John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now