Even though the Ford Motor Company was a producer of many classic cars, T-Ford will remain its brand ambassador whether the company wants it or not. Volkswagen may want to get rid of the Beetle nostalgia but the company will remain entrenched in our memories as the creators of this specific icon. Similarly, Da Vinci will always be identified with The Mona Lisa and Picasso with his painting Guernica, weather his soul likes it or not. That this approximately three meters by eight meters painting was commissioned by the Spanish Government to commemorate the bombing of the Guernica town, is "now" a famous Picasso fable, the original reason of its fame is rooted to its being "so Picasso" in style .
Picasso's Guernica is his textbook. All the elements of quintessential Picasso, his stark forms, illusionary visuals, monotone colors, a multilayered abstraction, and an overt use of the famous Picasso symbols, bull & horse, all come together in Picasso's Guernica.
While Picasso always maintained that he painted things "as he saw them" and implored critics not to see hidden icons in his renderings, Guernica has always inspired fables. Be it the symbolism of the painting or the "in your face" grotesqueness, to break down a painting and explain it bit by bit is like tearing the petals of a flower to enjoy its beauty. Picasso's Guernica reflect the pain and anguish at war, which is understood by the heart before the mind registers it. You do not have to be an art aficionado to feel the ugliness conveyed through Picasso's Guernica, that permeates the scene of war. Severed heads, cut limbs, and torn out animals, convey the disgust of war, which grabs you by the throat. The monotones black and white only, accentuate the feelings of Picasso's Guernica.
While the motive of making this painting was to further the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil war, and was displayed alongside similarly "motivated" works by Miro, Picasso's Guernica had a separate life of its own on pure merit. Devoid of its political leanings, the painting has come to symbolize a universal outrage against War and Terror. The repulsiveness of man fighting man for whatever reason has found an emblem in this painting throughout the twentieth and twenty first century.
Picasso never explained his paintings, although he could have. He never wanted them "explained." According to his beliefs, Picasso's paintings were a work of art and not biological drawings with labels. Despite being complex, his works have managed to evoke emotions even in the nonprofessionals of art. Picasso's Guernica is the boldest proof of this reach.