Last August 10, we the students of EL197 class, attended Prof. Maria Victoria Herrera’s lecture “Images of the Revolution in Spanish Painting” at CM Recto in the Faculty Center. While I must say that her presentation is quite boring on most parts, with her just reading her paper the entire time, I did appreciate the things I learned from here.
In connection to the Spanish Civil War, she presented the famous work by Pablo Picasso, the Guernica. But before she talked about Picasso, she first presented another famous Spanish painter, Francisco de Goya.
Francisco de Goya was one of those afrancesados, those who embraced not only the French liberalism, but also its culture and manners, thus they were shunned by the traditional society which believed in being nationalistic, closing their doors to foreign influences. He served in the French courts as royal painter and went back to his motherland where he received a cold shoulder. Nevertheless, he was able to produce great masterpieces, one of which is “El tres de mayo” where he immortalized in the four corners of his canvas the shooting down of the Spanish resistance against the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in the 19th century.
In this particular painting, we see one use of art, and that is the portrayal of a historical event. Sure accounts are quite abundant in the pages of history books but art, as in the case of paintings like “El tres de mayo” have a better way of capturing the images of the past. We see here the shock and the fear in the eyes of men whose imminent death lies ahead as soldiers point their weapons at them.
In the 20th century, the main representative of Spanish art would have to be Picasso, whose famed cubism was present in one of the most widely praised paintings of all time. The Guernica is a work of art created as a reaction to the events that were happening in Spain at that time. A brief background on history was presented. Guernica was actually a small town in the Basque country which was bombed by Franco’s troops despite it being an area of civilians and non-fighting people. When it was bombed on a market day, it is said that Picasso got angry and used the event as his subject for the mural project he was working on.
Here, we see that art has taken on the form of a reaction to what is happening around, reflecting the social conditions with which the painter lived. Also, it has evolved into something that promotes awareness, something like a propaganda that informs people about the present situation.
I’m afraid that I am most unworthy to comment on the paintings. While I admire Goya for his works “La maja desnuda” and “La maja vestida”, I can’t seem to appreciate the highly abstract works of Picasso, including the Guernica of course. Or maybe it’s just a matter of tastes since I am quite attracted to baroque paintings like those done by Titian, Lorrain, Vernet, and of course Peter Paul Rubens with all their mythological and religious subjects. I thought I couldn’t quite participate in the discussion which followed the presentation but I was wrong.
Bringing up something connected to religion is certainly an aperture for me. When someone asked about the dove as a sign of peace, I suddenly fell into thinking as to why use a dove with a twig on its beak as a symbol for peace? Prof. Herrera was not able to answer my question regarding this as I have said that the dove is a symbol of hope, as one can see in the story of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Upon seeing the dove come back with a twig on its beak, the family of Noah rejoiced, knowing that dry land had been found. Furthermore, I know that the dove also symbolizes the Holy Spirit though I don’t know where such symbolization originated from. There’s this Bible verse, too, that says that when one is filled with the Holy Spirit, he shall be filled with peace. A classmate of mine offered a brief answer saying that somewhere in the Bible, it is stated that the dove is a symbol of peace. And indeed I checked the New Testament for proof and voila, I found it in the first four books of the New Testament. When Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened and a voice was heard saying “This is my son for whom I am well pleased.” The disciples saw the Holy Spirit which descended like a dove. So I guess, this must be it.
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