The paintings, “Guernica’ by Pablo Picasso and “Executions of the Third of May” by Francisco De Goya seem to be very different in style and tone, but deeper within them you will find a similar meaning despite the twos different histories and backgrounds. The paintings’ styles and compositions were influenced greatly by when and where they were first created. The pair are great paintings, influential and well known, about two different but similar events in the same country. Goya’s “Executions of the Third of May” is based off an apparent eyewitness account of Goya to the French Army lined up as a firing squad, ready to begin massacring a group of captives. He was so enraged by this act that immediately after, he is said to have sketched the corpse under the lantern’s light. He was unable to display it until 1814, as he was still Court …show more content…
Similar to Goya’s painting, Guernica was a commissioned painting by the Spanish Democratic Government to be displayed at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, France to show the outrages of Francisco Franco and his allies. Picasso, an ex-pat of Spain living in France, was very vocal in his criticism of and opposition to the Militant Autocracy of his home, and agreed to paint a picture. He had already started on a piece for the fair when he read an article by George Steer about the event in The Times titled, “The Tragedy of Guernica: A Town Destroyed in Air Attack: Eye-Witness’s Account”. Steer described the German bombing of the city so vividly that Picasso was immediately moved to action. He stopped focusing on the Mural and from May 1st spent the next 3 weeks leading up to the exhibit and two weeks after working on his masterpiece until it was completed in Early