Picasso

I thought I'd take a small break from my usual rant about politics and religion, and, once again, say a little bit about my favourite works of art. This painting is called Massacre in Korea, By Pablo Picasso. He painted this in 1951 and it depicts the massacre of Korean civilians by American forces at No Gun Ri in 1950. Like Guernica, his depiction of the bombing of the Spanish city by German aircraft in 1937, this painting confronts the horrors of modern warfare. The murder of civilian populations by military aggressors has become commonplace in these modern times. The fact that the civilians in this painting are naked and helpless is significant when compared to the metallic harshness of their killers.


This painting is called Weeping Woman, also painted in 1937. Look closely and you can see the genius of Picasso as he captures the pain in the woman's heart. This painting followed Guernica, and is also a political and emotional statement about the cruelties of war.

People think of Picasso as an "abstract" painter, but I think these paintings are anything but abstract. Like any great work of art they capture and express the subtle realities of the human condition.



This painting is called Don Quixote, which he painted in 1955. The painting captures in a delightful way the frailness, foolishness, nobility, and dignity of the demented old fool and his comic, yet devoted, companion, as they set out to right the wrongs of the modern world. He is determined to confront the evil forces that are deceiving and warping mankind...this is his madness and his salvation.

Picasso was a great artist. He was not afraid to confront the modern world, in all its' glory and imperfections, and use his unique vision to place it before us for close examination.