Guernica y la guerra civil de España (A1)
While studying the Spanish Civil War, we specifically talked about the history of the bombing of Guernica, a small town in the north of Spain. We analyzed the painting “Guernica” by Picasso (1937), which famously depicts Picasso’s reaction to this tragic event. We also looked at the painting by Ron English called “Bombing Begins in Five Minutes”, which is English’s interpretation of what Guernica might have looked like before the bombing began. As a creative writing project, we chose a character in the painting and wrote a short story about how their day might have transitioned from the English representation to the Picasso representation. (Esmé)
Additionally, we read the poem “La oda a los niños de Madrid muertos por la metralla” by Vicente Aleixandre (1937) and compared the themes in that poem to the ones we discussed in Picasso’s “Guernica.” We annotated copies of the painting with words and phrases from Aleixandre’s poem, pointing out similarities and differences between these two works of art.
Nico says: “I found it very interesting to find the many similarities between “Guernica” and “Bombing Begins in Five Minutes!”
Jesse says: “I really loved creating backstory for one of the characters in these paintings, but it was also very sad.”
Mary Alice says: “I found the creative writing project very interesting, and although it did challenge me a bit, it was cool to explore the perspective of one of the characters in ‘Guernica’.”
Guernica (Pablo Picasso, 1937)
Mary Alice (Click to enlarge)
Zayna (Click to enlarge)
Niko (Click to enlarge)
Esmé (Click to enlarge)
Jesse (Click to enlarge)