Did you know that Picasso’s El Guernica has never been up for sale and has no listed price attached?

By Shannon Tellis

King Felipe of Spain recently gifted former US President Barack Obama a book detailing Pablo Picasso’s most famous painting El Guernica. Let’s take a closer look at this famous masterpiece’s journey.

1. Recognised as Picasso’s most powerful political statement, the ‘El Guernica’ is a mural-size oil painting created in response to the Nazi bombing of Guernica (a little Spanish village) during the Spanish Civil War. The painting features tormented and distorted figures — like a gored horse, a bull and flames — done in a palette of grey, black and white to depict the horrors of mechanised war.

2. Commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the 1937 Paris International Exposition, the oil-on-canvas piece was initially supposed to be a large mural on Picasso’s perennial theme of the artist’s studio. However, after the devastating bombing, Picasso abandoned his initial idea and started sketching preliminary drawings for Guernica which would soon became a powerful anti-war symbol.

3. Between exhibitions in Europe and the Americas, Guernica was entrusted to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City on Picasso’s request. Picasso believed that the painting should not be delivered to Spain until democracy had been established in the country.

4. Spain finally became a democratic constitutional monarchy in 1978 but the MoMA was reluctant to release the painting, claiming that a monarchy did not satisfy Picasso’s condition of delivery.

Bowing to international pressure, the painting was fi nally released to the Museo del Prado, Madrid in time to celebrate the centenary of Picasso’s birth.

5. As a cautionary measure against attacks, when ‘El Guernica’ finally arrived in Spain, it was displayed behind bomb-and-bullet proof glass screens before being moved to the Queen Sofía National Art Centre Museum where it resides currently.

6. As an additional precautionary measure, the museum roped in Spanish telecommunication company Telefonica to develop a 250,000 pound machine to check the painting’s health ahead of its 75th anniversary.

7. Unlike Picasso’s other works, the Guernica has never been up for sale and has no listed price attached. However, some valuations have placed the painting around $200mn.