Picasso Poster from the Exhibition Marking the Return of Guernica to Spain, 1981

Description

A poster that celebrates an iconic exhibition, namely the return of Picasso's work: "Guernica" in Spain in 1981, after 37 … more A poster that celebrates an iconic exhibition, namely the return of Picasso's work: "Guernica" in Spain in 1981, after 37 years of absence by the artist's will, in the venue that he has abandoned to date not even for a temporary loan . The "Guernica Legado Picasso" exhibition which marked the new home of the work in the Casón del Buen Retiro, part of the Prado Museum, not only celebrates the return of the work after exhausting legal battles between heirs but above all the end of Franco's dictatorship in Spain and the return of the republic, an essential clause for the return of the work to his homeland desired by Picasso himself before his death. Designed by Picasso for the Universal Exposition of 1937, Guernica, with its imposing 8 by 3 and a half metres, tells the story of the massacre carried out by twenty-four Nazi-fascist aircraft in the Basque village of Guernica, becoming a true figurative hymn to Peace and Freedom, as well as a symbol of anti-Francoism and resistance. which is why, once the Universal Exhibition was over, Picasso refused to leave the work in Spain in the hands of the Francoists and had it transferred to the United States. So Guernica left the country and arrived in America, where for eleven years it remained at the MoMa in New York, exhibited with the words "borrowed from the Spanish people" next to it. The painting traveled far and wide, exhibited in Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, and then also in Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, a symbol of peace to be flaunted. That should have remained, even after the death of Picasso, who wanted to put it in black and white: the painting would not have touched Spanish soil "until the Republic had been restored", the author declared to Le Monde in Spain. In 1972 Picasso died and in 1975 Franco and the Spanish government also died, thus the phase of thaw with the motherland began. The Spanish government continued to claim ownership of the painting, purchased with 150 thousand francs from the popular government, but doubts centered on the wishes of the moral owner of the work, Picasso. Would it have allowed Guernica to return to a country that was still monarchical? In 1981, when Guernica returned to Madrid for the exhibition advertised by the poster in question, the odyssey of the painting was not yet over, the Reina Sofia Museum and the Prado Museum, of which Picasso had been director and the only authorized place, competed for it. from the painter to receive it. Exhibited that year in the Casón del Buen Retiro, it will find its definitive place in the Reina Sofia Museum, one km from the Prado from which it has never left. The poster is in good vintage condition, with minimal signs of use and aging. less