Guernica, by Pablo Picasso

There is also a pigeon sign in the painting. It is colored white and symbolizes fractured unity. People and animals struggle because there is no calm. The artwork contributes to the painting’s motif of misery.
The painting also uses a horse as an emblem. It is situated in the painting’s middle. The horse is built in such a way that its mouth is open, as though it is dropping back. A human skull can be found in the other regions of the body. It reflects both animal and human cruelty, massacres, and pain. In the painting, there is the dead soldier. The soldier’s body is incomplete because the only parts which are portrayed are his head, one arm, and the left forearm. In one of his hands, he is holding flower as a hope to the people. The shape of the body depicts suffering which is in accordance with the painting theme.

There is also a shape of a kneeling woman and a woman in an oil lamp. The kneeling woman seems to have been injured because her leg appears broken and the knee is bleeding. She is also trying to stop the bleeding with her hand. In an attack, there is usually a lot of commotion and thus one can get injured. This supports the subject matter of the painting which is suffering as the woman broke her leg due to the bomb attack. The woman in an oil lamp face appears to be in shock. Her painting represents the Spanish Republic which part of it, the Guernica town was under a bomb attack where people and animals suffered. There is also a painting of man facing up and seems to be begging for something. He could be pleading with those who were responsible for the bombing to stop it.

In the painting, there is a light bulb which represents a new technology that was being tested on Guernica by those who were responsible, the Germans. It can also mean a bomb. This supports the theme of suffering too. Where there is bombing or a technology being tested which can result in killings, injury and brutality to human beings and animals mean suffering.

All the symbols represent a painful emotion. This is because all are in form of a suffering. The bull painting is dark at the body and white at the head, the mother with a dead child and her eyes in tears, the horse, the kneeling woman, the woman in the oil lamb and the pleading man expresses a painful mood.