Guernica

Picasso’s *Guernica* is regarded as the defining image of the century, not least because of its combination of artistic quality and political significance. Yet the latter has always been questioned from the outset, as the painting presents far greater difficulties for interpretation than its aura would suggest. This study attempts to highlight the political dimension of the painting within its structural framework, as an exemplary representation of a form of total destruction unprecedented in world history. The tension inherent in this structure—between aesthetic differentiation and immediate symbolic power—is examined through two poles of its reception. It is no coincidence that Picasso’s painting became both a compositional model for the Abstract Expressionists and an icon in a political installation by Luigi Nono.

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