One of the most famous works of art from twentieth-century history has greatly moved art lovers. Pablo Picasso’s painting the “Guernica” is sick and its conditions are serious although stable: this was the diagnosis given by experts at the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, who in these days have been carrying out a last check-up on Picasso’s work. An analysis that will allow to understand more thoroughly its damage, its genes, the hidden curiosities about its life. The “El Paìs” newspaper had exclusive access to the last test carried out on the Spanish artist’s painting. And the conclusion was: “For as much as it is serious, it is a stable situation” guaranteed Jorge Garcià Gòmez-Tejedor, head of the museum department of preservation and restoration, who more than anyone else takes care of the picture’s condition together with a team of about twenty people. The picture had already been examined ten years ago and all the damage to it had been observed: many signs due to the passing of time and a lot of damage caused by frequent moving that have made the picture what it is today. However, this time experts have found more critical aspects than the last decade; the new radiography has revealed 129 alterations.
Painted in oil on canvas, the “Guernica” has a great evocative strength. It soon became symbol and condemnation against war for the immediacy with which it portrays people, animals, and buildings afflicted by the violence and chaos of carpet bombing, rendering efficiently the sense of inhumanity, brutality and desperation of the war. Pablo Picasso is at the climax of his creative tension. The novelty about this painting is in its chromatic syntax which admits only white, black and grey, suggested by the images of destruction appeared in newspapers. Therefore, the scene is not set either inside or outside, but everywhere, as different lines lead the spectator’s eyes in depth, irregular perspective shortenings confuse the spatial datum and it is not possible to establish one single source of light.
At the moment, it is being evaluated whether or not to take the “Guernica” to the operating theatre, decision that will be made only in 2010, when the check-up will have been completed. The biggest restoration so far has been carried out at the Moma in New York, with a treatment of resin and beeswax. Then there have been other interventions with acrylic resin, layers of Polaroid to reject attacks, as even this painting has had its enemies. The most onerous offence was the one committed by a “graffiti-artist” who defaced the work with a red spray at the Moma. Naturally the work was cleaned up, but the new analyses have shown remaining traces of that offence. Furthermore, the debate about the replacement of the framework that supports it is still in course. Studies are continuing and have not been completed yet. A colorimetry has examined its colour full of white, black and grey tones. But some things are still missing: “a scan, more high-resolution photographs taken part by part. An infrared-ray study to get to the bottom of the transparencies of its colour”. The situation is causing a lot of worries and all this confirms the cry of alarm already launched in 1998: the canvas has a lot of damage, mainly attributed to its history. Pablo Picasso painted it in 1937 commissioned by the Republic, under the attack of general Francisco Franco, to display it at the Universal Exhibition of Paris. It immediately became a symbol of world antifascism. Moreover, it was used to collect adhesions and funds for the legitimate Spanish government. It started travelling in Europe to then continue in the USA, where, by wish of its author, it stayed until democracy was reestablished in Spain. It was housed for many years at the Moma in New York. With the decline of Funeralism (1975) and with the rise of democracy in 1977, the “Guernica” returned to its homeland. But so many ordeals left their mark. Indeed, the painting was rolled up every time it was moved. The first call for help was launched by Picasso, who in 1957 decided its first restoration at the Moma, when the work was only twenty years old. And he also decided that the canvas would not have been moved again before returning for good to Spain. In its homeland, the canvas was moved only one last time, in 1992. We will have to wait for the fateful report in 2010 to hope that this luxury “patient” will be in good condition, regardless of how much may have to be spent for its restoration. (translated by Giorgina Arcuri)