Visual Rhetoric Katie Harrison Guernica by Picasso http

Visual Rhetoric Katie Harrison

Guernica by Picasso http: //www. flatrock. org. nz/topics/society_culture/wars_were_ever_thus. htm

• What stands out to you when you look at the painting? Why do you think the painting is so abstract?

• What stands out to you when you look at the painting? What stands out to me is the disorder in the painting. Nothing is really very clear. The figures are misshapen and not easily identified.

Background • On April 26 th 1937, a massive air raid by the German Luftwaffe on the town of Guernica in Northern Spain shocked the world. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the raid which became a major incident of the Spanish Civil War. • Despite the enormous interest the painting generated in his lifetime, Picasso refused to explain his painting. http: //web. org. uk/picasso/secret_guernica. html

Proportion • If the painting was zoomed in on the horse, would the painting have the same effect?

Proportion • If the painting was zoomed in on the horse, would the painting have the same effect? No, because you could not have seen what was going on around the animal. It would have been hard to understand that the picture was about the suffering of not just animals, but humans too.

Purpose • The painting was made shortly after the bombing on Guernica to show the destruction. It makes me think that people who see this will realize how war is such a bad thing because of the suffering of the people in the painting.

• Now that you know a little about the background of this painting, how does it effect your outlook on the painting itself?

• Now that you know a little about the background of this painting, how does it effect your outlook on the painting itself? After knowing that the painting was about a bombing on a Spanish city, it made me look a little deeper at the painting. When I looked again the distortion of the bodies in the painting stood out more and took on a different meaning, that these were real people suffering after a brutal attack.

Ethos • Picasso has made many paintings in his life, do you think he is a reliable painter? Yes, because he is a very famous painter and if his works were fake then he would not be so well liked.

Pathos • What emotions does this painting evoke? • When I first looked at it I was confused because I couldn’t really tell what was going on in the painting, but after I looked at it and understood what was happening, I was sad and felt sorry for the people in the painting.

Logos • This painting appeals to your logic because it is distorted and does not give you an obviously clear message. You have to look again and think about what is happening in the painting.

Fin