Guernica is a mural-sized oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso completed by June 1937.[1] The painting, which uses a palette of gray, black, and white, is known as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history.[2] Standing at 3.49 metres (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 metres (25 ft 6 in) wide, the large mural shows the suffering of people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos.
The painting is believed to be a response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country village in northern Spain, by German and Italian warplanes at the request of the Spanish Nationalists. Upon completion, Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed, and believed to have helped bring worldwide attention to the Spanish Civil War.