Artwork Review: Cinco De Mayo Vs. Guernica

The two artworks that I am going to describe are The 3^rd of May, (Cinco de Mayo, 1808) which was done in the Romantic Period by Francisco Goya and Guernica which was done in the period of Cubism by Pablo Picasso. The artworks of Cinco de Mayo and Guernica are similar and different in their background, elements of art, principles of design, and ideas of their artwork.

Francisco de Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Spain on March 30, 1746 (NNDB). He moved to a different location with his parents to a city called Saragossa and when he turned fourteen years old, he began studying with Jose Luzan Martinez (Voorhies, 1). Goya made Cinco de Mayo, 1808 in Spain (Voorhies, 2). Goya's style of artwork was influenced by two artist of the Baroque period, Velasquez and Rembrandt (Voorhies, 2). To make Cinco de Mayo, he used an oil canvas.

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881 (NNDB). Guernica was made in France since he was still there in the 1930's (The Timeline of Art History). His style of art was influenced by the main Cubist, Georges Braque (Lois Fichner-Rathus, 477). The art media Picasso used was the oil canvas to display his work of art.

For Goya's artwork, I am going to describe value, color, and space. In the artwork Cinco de Mayo, 1808, you will see a mass of darkness on the town that is hidden in the background behind the French soldiers which shows an emotional state of drastic change and depression in the city of Madrid. In addition to this, there is also medium light but still darkness on the French soldiers that are aiming their guns at the Spaniards. This shows how adamant and focus the soldiers were in executing them. Medium tones of light is now focused on the Spaniards that are surrounding the main Spaniard that is the brighter than them all. Medium tones of value show how devastated and anxious the people of Spain were in hoping to stay alive, hoping their situation will get better or probably hoping that the French will have mercy on their lives. The one Spaniard that is the brightest tends to show the most emotion, showing intense fear. The colors in the picture like the color yellow which is located on the right side of the picture, shows the focal point of the picture. The brownish and black colors show the deep depression and devastation of the people. On the bottom of the picture, you see the cool reddish color of blood that is oozing out of one of the dead Spaniards that was killed. Space that is displayed in Goya's picture is perspective space because it shows the distance between the Spaniards and the soldiers.

For Picasso's artwork, I am going to describe shapes, value and color. Picasso's Guernica is made with a variety of deformed shapes like the mother with the baby that had died on the far left of the painting. Her disfigured body is shaped like a triangle and so is her baby. The cow, which is above her, has a head that is shaped like disfigured cube. Valueis used to show emotion. There is more light value than dark value. The light value shows the emotional state and result of the Spanish Civil War. One example again is the Woman with the dying baby on the far left of the picture, the man that is in total panic on the far right of the painting and the man who is laying on the ground in desperation for help. The colors that were used in this piece were black, white and little bits of brown. These colors, except for brown which is a warm color, are neutral colors that are used to show the depression of the War.

In the artwork, Cinco de Mayo, 1808, Goya balances his artwork by using asymmetrical balances. On the right side of the painting, there are more objects and higher shapes like the hill. The left side, there are lesser people and the village is shorter than the hill which makes a balance of the picture. Also, the emphasis of the artwork is focused on the man who hands are raised up as a sign of surrender; he is the focal point. The rest of the picture shows subordinate areas like the soldiers, the other Spaniards around focal area and so on. Lastly, movement of the artwork is in the right direction where the Spaniards are located, moving towards the left side of the picture where the soldiers are standing.

In Guernica, the movement of the artwork is in the center of the painting, moving towards the right side of the picture where the mother with the baby is located, then moving downward where the man in pain is laying, and finally on the left side of the painting. The emphasis of the artwork is located on the right side of the piece and the other objects are subordinate areas of the artwork. Lastly to balance the art, Goya used a symmetrical balance on both sides of painting. The objects are almost the same in weight.

Goya's work was influenced by the political views of the brutal war against the Spain through King Ferdinand VII who was a tyrant and broke the rules by getting rid of the Constitution, making himself the only monarch and so on. Then sooner or later decided to bring a mass of terror and hate toward the Spaniards (Timeline). Disturbed by the evasion of the French and questioned about his commitment to the occupiers, he used art to show his political views on the war which influenced him to make Cinco de Mayo, 1808 (Timeline). Cinco de Mayo, 1808 showed the execution of the Spaniards by the French in Madrid and the devastation, the sadness and pain of Spain during the war (Timeline). Like Goya, Picasso was influenced by political issues of war. He was influenced by the Spanish Civil War. The Germans were torturing the Spanish people by bombing them in the Basque town of Guernica (Lois Frichner-Rathus, 478). Therefore, Picasso showed his political views of Germans antagonist and brutal works and the devastation of the Spanish Civil War through his artwork of Guernica (Frichner-Rathus, 478).

The artworks of Goya and Picasso are the same and different in their history, art elements, principles of their design, and concepts of their artwork. The reason why I have chosen these two particular pieces is because I have a political science class and learning the history of our political government influence me to choose to do my art essay on Cinco de Mayo, 1808 and Guernica. My opinion of Picasso's art work changed. At first, I just thought is was just about the Spanish Civil War but now I understand that it was also based on how Goya felt about the War and yes my appreciation of the artworks did increase after doing this essay.