The Parthenon and Picasso’s Guernica: Art History
Analysis and Commentary of the Parthenon
Analysis of the Material
The material used in this architectural masterpiece is marble. Given that it is a work whose completion would manifest the glory of Athens, very high-quality Pentelic marble was chosen. This material was also used for all the sculptural decorations.
Formal Analysis
We observe the work corresponds to a building with lintels and a roof line, which originally would have had a deck on the roof with two slopes to shed rainwater. The elements that support the top of the building indicate that it is Doric, with columns without bases and with a molding as a capital, and an entablature divided into triglyphs and metopes. The eight columns in front of us indicate that it is an octastyle temple. The possession of two porches characterizes it as amphiprostyle, and having columns around it as peripteral. In the form of the temple, the most salient features are proportionality and formal balance. Proportionality is achieved through the use of a unit, the overall diameter of the column, which is repeated several times in different parts of the temple, seeking harmony in this proportionality. The balance is achieved through the use of force applied to a series of corrections. These corrections are aimed at reducing the distortions produced by the human eye when seeing distant objects. This is done through a slightly curved entablature, widening the central part of the temple, or unevenly distributing the space between the columns.
Meaningful Analysis
The Parthenon is a temple that was visible from the sea, being situated on the hill of the Acropolis. From the boats, one could see the perfect structure of this temple, a symbol of Athens. Thanks to the effect of formal perfection, the Parthenon became a model of architectural balance for the history of art. It also represents the power of Athens in the 5th century BC and is a symbol of the cultural complexity that succeeded. Philosophy and the invention of the democratic system are different contributions of ancient Greece to the history of Western Europe.
Comment
Built on top of the walled city of Athens, the Acropolis, the Parthenon temple was built between 447 and 432 BC, thanks to the prominence of the city of Athens in the Attic League. The war of Greek cities against the Persians destroyed the buildings of the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon rises on the site of an earlier temple with the same invocation. Although the ruins of the ancient temple were believed to be left as a statement of cruelty done in the war, the prevailing view of the strategist of Athens, Pericles, ordered the construction of a new temple.
The Parthenon temple was built by Ictinus and Callicrates. Phidias carved the decorative repertoire of the temple and oversaw all the work. The sculptural decoration that Phidias made for the Parthenon refers to the dedication of the temple: the birth of Athena. He also used as grounds the relationship of this goddess with the history of the city of Athens, which gave it its name. In one of the pediments, Phidias represented the scene of the birth of Athena, born from the head of her father, Zeus. In another gable chosen by Phidias, the reason is the competition between Poseidon and Athena for the protection of Athens, where Poseidon’s trident spear sent up a fountain in the Acropolis, and Athena, the winner, brought out from her javelin spear an olive tree. In the metopes, decorated spaces of the Doric frieze, the decorations were the Trojan War, the Gigantomachy (fight against the giants), the Amazonomachy (counter the Amazons), and the Centauromachy (control of the centaurs). Within the inner wall of the temple, Phidias carved a running frieze known as the “Panathenaic Procession.” This procession was held in Athens, where the city’s virgin women wove a dress, a robe for the statue of the goddess. To present her with this gift, a procession of horsemen and foot soldiers from Athens, bearing offerings, rose to the Parthenon to make delivery of the garment. These issues were related to the goddess Athena, patron goddess of Athens and protector of war, the arts, and intelligence. Today, most of these sculptures are in the British Museum in London.
The Parthenon has become a symbol in art history, representing the classical architecture model that contains the values of Greek culture from antiquity: rationality, harmony, proportionality, and the anthropocentric view, the concept of being human as a measure of all things. These principles are also reflected in other temples, like that of the Erechtheion and Athena Nike on the Acropolis, or sculptural works from the classical period. Phidias not only made the reliefs from the Parthenon but also made the sculpture of the goddess Athena for this temple. It was made in gold and ivory and has disappeared. Subsequently, Phidias went to Olympia, where he directed the work of the temple dedicated to Zeus, now lost, and the representation of the father of the gods, also in gold and ivory and also disappeared.
Analysis and Commentary of Picasso’s Guernica
Material Analysis
The table, now kept by the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, is made with the technique of oil painting on canvas and stands out for its large size, as it measures twelve feet high (349.3 cm) by nearly eight feet long (776.60 cm).
Formal Analysis
It is a long table, with a technique that closely resembles a billboard, since its intention is to expose the horrors of war, to disseminate the idea of harmony and peace. Although the play follows the principles of Cubism—disintegration of forms into geometric figures, presentation of several planes of view simultaneously to the viewer, cutting planes, etc.—it maintains a readily recognizable figuration that allows for the identification of the elements represented, both animals and people. Also, the work denotes the current knowledge of other pictorial and great intellectual burdens, such as Surrealism, as the picture elements have value in that they are capable of being interpreted by the viewer. The different levels of the table create a three-dimensional space, the depth of the fictitious surface. The choice of color is very deliberate: black and white with shades of gray, which are used primarily to mark the shadows. This effect increases the depth effect of the representation.
Meaningful Analysis
Guernica is a painting that has become a landmark of twentieth-century art, both for its historical value and its iconography. Through simple lines and planes, it has elements of high symbolic and communicative effect:
- The bull, a symbol of strength, bravery, and brutality, capable of charging up to kill. It comes in the box with the testicles to the fore, reinforcing the vital force and load of this aggressive animal, whose skin is widely identified with our country, Spain.
- The horse is presented in an agitated movement. It is a runaway horse, without control over its impulses, with overflowing aggressiveness.
- The characters are depicted in an attitude of suffering: the woman with the dead child in her arms, the fallen and dismembered man with the flower in his hand, the despondent woman walking bare-chested, or the person in flames. They are images that show the cruelty of war, pain, sadness, or anger.
Some elements—the bulb, the arm with the lamp, the dove on the table, or the flower in the hand of the fallen—suggest a glimmer of hope for the pain and tragedy, hope of peace, or the light of reason to the irrationality of war.
Comment
Pablo Ruiz Picasso painted Guernica, commissioned by the Spanish Republican government, for the Pavilion of Spain at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1937. During the Spanish Civil War, Picasso painted this picture to witness the irrational brutality between a conflict between the citizens of the same country, without respecting ties of friendship or family. The coup of the nationals, led by top army commanders, had given rise to a climate of violence and terror that had brought forth unbridled hatred and the most irrational aggression. The work reflects an event of the Spanish Civil War: the bombing of the town of Guernica, a symbol of the Basque Country, by German aircraft on April 27, 1937. The planes dropped incendiary bombs and riddled the population. The city burned in the bombing. This event serves Picasso as the theme to reflect the savagery of the conflict.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881 and died in Mougins, France, in 1973. His father was a professor of drawing at the School of Arts and Crafts of Malaga and then in the cities of La Coruña and Barcelona. In Barcelona, he came into contact with artists and intellectuals, with whom he met at “Els Quatre Gats” (The Four Cats). He then moved to Paris, a city that had become the center of avant-garde art, especially pictorial innovations. There, he settled in the district of Montmartre, in the building known as the Bateau-Lavoir. He would spend the rest of his life in France.
In his artistic development, several stages can be distinguished:
- Stage of Training: Emphasizes the use of drawing and academic training, linking to the figurative. One of his representative works is “Science and Charity.”
- Blue Period: Named for the predominance of that color in his works. The themes are suffering characters, full of melancholy and humanity. Examples of this period are “The Blind Guitarist” and “Life.”
- Rose Period: In this stage, the dominant colors in the pictures are pink. The themes are circus characters, harlequins, etc. An example might be “The Family of Acrobats.”
- Cubism: Opened in 1907 with “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” It will be his great contribution to the art world. Cubism is characterized by the breakdown of reality into geometric forms and the submission of views on the plays performed simultaneously. Cubism will become, rather than an aesthetic trend, a way of analyzing reality. It has two stages: Analytical Cubism and Synthetic Cubism.
Later, Picasso created a unique style, characterized by the influence of classical painting and his recurring addiction to Cubism, sometimes combined with Surrealism. The figure of the Minotaur, the study of classic works of painting, such as Las Meninas or Guernica, are examples of this style, which never reaches abstraction. Picasso, one of the great names of the twentieth century, represents, in short, the intellectual artist who reflects in his new artistic trends or political or social concerns. But perhaps the most notable aspects are his creative genius and artistic talent, which allowed him to master many techniques—printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, etc.—and a relentless creative work. The result is a massive artistic output.