Pablo Picasso: Picture 'Guernica' (1937), framed

In January 1937, the government of the Spanish Republic asked Picasso, who had been living in Paris for more than three decades, to contribute to the Spanish pavilion at the World Exhibition that was to be held in Paris that year. Six months earlier, the Spanish Civil War had broken out. After some preliminary studies, Picasso finally set to work in May. Something decisive had happened in the meantime: On 30 April 1937, German warplanes had destroyed the small town of Guernica, killing more than 1600 people. Picasso therefore chose a completely new approach: his contribution was to be a monumental painting depicting the horrors of war in stark black and white contrasts. 'Guernica', Picasso's largest painting ever at 3.49 x 7.77 metres, is as contemporary as it is visionary: the bombing of Guernica may have been the occasion, but today the painting has a far greater impact as a bitter premonition of the wars of the 20th century and as an indictment of war in general. 'Guernica' acquired immediate symbolic power and was exhibited in many places until it found its place in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Following Picasso's instructions, it only came to Spain after the end of the Franco dictatorship - it has been in Madrid since 1981. Picasso himself, however, never set foot on Spanish soil again. Original: 1937, oil on canvas, 349.3 x 776.6 cm, Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. 5-colour frequency-modulated reproduction on 260g Rives laid paper. Limited edition of 1,000 copies. Motif size 42.2 x 92 cm (H/W). Sheet size 67 x 98 cm (H/W). © laieproduccions, © Succession Picasso, Paris 2017 Framed in a silver-coloured solid wood frame with bevel cut passe-partout, glazed. Format 72 x 120 cm (H/W).