The Smoking Flame and Night Light

In The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, Mary Magdalene still looks like the legendary woman of
fleshly pleasure — yet she seems to be questioning her present existence. Her shoulders and legs are
bare, and she holds a human skull on her lap. Skull symbolism was frequently used in art of this era to
indicate mortality and the inevitability of death. Here Mary Magdalene contemplates an oil lamp, the
flame of which might further symbolize enlightenment and purification. This flame, however, is
smoky and not burning with clarity. A similar positioning and composition makes up Magdalen of
Night Light, only the flame now burns evenly. In both paintings, a wooden cross rests before Mary
Magdalene on the table.

There is another version of this scene painted by George de la Tour. In this, the sexual undertone is
more explicit - Mary's legs and shoulder are bared, as if she has just finished servicing a client. But the
mood of introspection and regret are the same.

Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso, in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by
German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during
the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Pablo Picasso to create a
large mural for the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie
Moderne (1937) Paris International Exposition in the 1937 World's Fair in Paris.

Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly
innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the
tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was
displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped
bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention.

Guernica is gray, black and white, 3.5 metre (11 ft) tall and 7.8 metre (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size
canvas painted in oil. This painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. Picasso's purpose
in painting it was to bring the world's attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by
German bombers, who were supporting the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish
Civil War. Picasso completed the painting by mid-June 1937.[1] Picasso exhibited his mural-size
painting at the Spanish display at the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie
Moderne (1937) (Paris International Exposition) in the 1937 World's Fair in Paris and then at other
venues around the world. The San Francisco Museum of Art (later SFMOMA) gave the work its first
public, free appearance in the United States from 27 August - 19 September. The Museum of Modern
Art in New York City then mounted an important Picasso exhibition on 15 November 1939 that
remained on view until 7 January 1940, entitled: Picasso: 40 Years of His Art, that was organized by
Alfred H. Barr (1902–1981), in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition
contained 344 works, including Guernica and its studies.[2]

Guernica shows suffering people, animals, and buildings wrenched by violence and chaos.

• The overall scene is within a room where, at an open end on the left, a wide-eyed bull stands
over a woman grieving over a dead child in her arms.
• The centre is occupied by a horse falling in agony as it had just been run through by a spear or
javelin. It is important to note that the large gaping wound in the horse's side is a major focus
of the painting.
• Two "hidden" images formed by the horse appear in Guernica:
o A human skull overlays the horse's body.
o A bull appears to gore the horse from underneath. The bull's head is formed mainly
by the horse's entire front leg which has the knee on the ground. The leg's knee cap
forms the head's nose. A horn appears within the horse's breast.
• The bull's tail forms the image of a flame with smoke rising from it, seemingly appearing in a
window created by the lighter shade of gray surrounding it.
• Under the horse is a dead, apparently dismembered soldier; his hand on a severed arm still
grasps a shattered sword from which a flower grows.
• On the open palm of the dead soldier is a stigma, a symbol of martyrdom derived from the
stigmata of Christ.
• A light bulb blazes in the shape of an evil eye over the suffering horse's head (the bare bulb of
the torturer's cell.) Picasso's intended symbolism in regards to this object is related to the
 Spanish word for lightbulb; "bombilla", which makes an allusion to "bomb" and therefore
signifies the destructive effect which technology can have on society.
• To the upper right of the horse, a frightened female figure, who seems to be witnessing the
scenes before her, appears to have floated into the room through a window. Her arm, also
floating in, carries a flame-lit lamp. The lamp is positioned very close to the bulb, and is a
symbol of hope, clashing with the lightbulb.
• From the right, an awe-struck woman staggers towards the center below the floating female
figure. She looks up blankly into the blazing light bulb.
• Daggers that suggest screaming replace the tongues of the bull, grieving woman, and horse.
• A bird, possibly a dove, stands on a shelf behind the bull in panic.
• On the far right, a figure with arms raised in terror is entrapped by fire from above and below.
• A dark wall with an open door defines the right end of the mural.

Symbolism and interpretations

Interpretations of Guernica vary widely and contradict one another. This extends, for example, to the
mural's two dominant elements: the bull and the horse. Art historian Patricia Failing said, "The bull
and the horse are important characters in Spanish culture. Picasso himself certainly used these
characters to play many different roles over time. This has made the task of interpreting the specific
meaning of the bull and the horse very tough. Their relationship is a kind of ballet that was conceived
in a variety of ways throughout Picasso's career."

When pressed to explain them in Guernica, Picasso said, ...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse...
If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to
give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively,
unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.[3]

In "The Dream and Lie of Franco," a series of narrative sketches also created for the World's Fair,
Franco is depicted as a monster that first devours his own horse and later does battle with an angry
bull. Work on these illustrations began before the bombing of Guernica, and four additional panels
were added, three of which relate directly to the Guernica mural.

Picasso said as he worked on the mural: "The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the
people, against freedom. My whole life as an artist has been nothing more than a continuous struggle
against reaction and the death of art. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in
agreement with reaction and death? ... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call
Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste
which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death.[4]

However, according to scholar Beverly Ray[5] the following list of interpretations reflects the general
consensus of historians:

• The shape and posture of the bodies express protest.

• Picasso uses black, white, and grey paint to set a somber mood and express pain and chaos.
• Flaming buildings and crumbling walls not only express the destruction of Guernica, but
reflect the destructive power of civil war.
• The newspaper print used in the painting reflects how Picasso learned of the massacre.
• The light bulb in the painting represents the sun.
• The broken sword near the bottom of the painting symbolizes the defeat of the people at the
hand of their tormentors. (Berger 1980; Chipp 1988)[5]

In drawing attention to a number of preliminary studies, the so called primary project, [6] that show an
atelier installation incorporating the central triangular shape which reappears in the final version of
Guernica, Becht-Jördens and Wehmeier interpret the painting as a self-referential composition in the
tradition of atelier paintings such as "Las Meninas" by Diego Velázquez. In his chef d'oevre, Picasso
seems to be trying to define his role and his power as an artist in the face of political power and
violence. But far from being a mere political painting, Guernica should be seen as Picasso’s comment
on what art can actually contribute towards the self-assertion that liberates every human being and
protects the individual against overwhelming forces such as political crime, war, and death.