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Visit here for a 3D Exploration of Picasso’s Guernica by Lena Gieseke. Don’t miss it!


Is on the Internet that I first saw one of the best paintings that summarizes the creativity and thoughts of Ron English « Snoopy bombing the Simpsons » To see his revision of the Guernica was a revelation. He made a series based on Guernica, taking a very serious issue like war and the disaster caused during the civil war in Spain, which Picasso painted so wonderfully, and re-thought it using two universally-know cartoon heroes like Snoopy and the Simpsons. The first reaction was ouahu, ouahu, and again ouahu! Wonderful, colorful, genius! To take the Guernica and review it like this, what an idea, never tried before. The second thought has been: isn't it crude to take one of the gravest (if not THE gravest) painting ever made and revisit it like it was a joke? Isn't it dealing too lightly with such a serious matter like war, death? Isn't it too disrespectful to play with Picasso's most important painting? The answer is a mix of both feelings: he took the Guernica, with all the meaning it bears, and revisited it in a modern way.He went even further, explicitly showing who dropped the bomb that caused the massacre. Using a modern language he maybe allowed a new understanding of this work, especially to the young, for whom war is something both remote (at least in Europe and the USA, the so-called first world) and near (because the third world is still suffering from never-ending conflicts, and TV is bringing all this in our homes at lunchtime, making it a day-by-day fact, and so unavoidable, like many other things). Should something like Guernica happen today, it would probably be painted like Ron English did. He perfectly achieved to give less drama to this episode, while adding emotional pathos and keeping the emotional impact of the original. The choice of the players is terrifically effective: the Simpsons and their dog, Joe, Snoopy dressed as the Red Baron, all wonderfully well combined, expressive, colorful. But this is secondary: the important thing is to have had the idea of mixing the Guernica with two modern icons, simply genius! It is not just a review of other famous paintings he did, it is THE Guernica. In the other version I know, he uses Americans versus Indian, which is another excellent way ofinterpreting history using a well-know painting, but for me more local (US), less universal than Snoopy and the Simpsons. I think we should pay more attention (and respect) to Ron English's Guernica series. I do not know if my thoughts about his work match with the author's intention, but in any case this is what I feel when I look at this painting, and I am Spanish. Few times in our evolved world has painting been a tool to provoke a critical discussion and reflection about what happens in the world. Until now the original Guernica has been not so easily accessible, but now, in the Internet era, everything is such at hand, there are no more barriers. Ron English makes us questioning ourselves through paintings. I think his Guernica represents a new step in the art world.