Hello Bonjour Lyrics Click to hear and read Michael Franti
It helped end a war.
It sparked a Revolution
Diego Rivera National Palace Murals
And this: it helped end a depression.
The Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange 1939
One of the most well-known works of social commentary art of all time, Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica brought to light the brutality and absurdity of war in a way that has provoked visceral reactions for decades. The scene is based on a journalist’s first-hand account of the bombing of Guernica by Fascist troops, which took place during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. The way it’s painted with sharp, violent shapes in positions of pain or protest create a powerful image of the horrors of war — and the fact that it’s a painting allows it to cross cultural and linguistic divides. The mural itself traveled around the world as part of the World’s Fair, carrying the message to a wide, global audience — and showing that who sees an artwork is just as important as the artwork itself.
