Picasso's 'Guernica' protested the bombing of a Basque village

Goya's 'The Second of May 1808' inspired Picasso's 'Guernica'

Goya’s painting commemorated Spanish resistance to Napoleon’s armies, making it a notable part of both the history of Spain and the romantic movement. But it took scholars over a century to realize the impact it had on Pablo Picasso, whose own anti-war work, “Guernica,” used Goya’s painting as a reference.

See some of Picasso's most famous works

Picasso is one of history’s most famous painters. He redefined the standards of artistic beauty and forged a unique, revolutionary modern style. Today, he inspires artists looking to challenge the status quo. The Museu Picasso in Barcelona, the artist’s hometown, holds nearly 5,000 of Picasso’s early works, making it the perfect place to glimpse the ideas and range of his artistic practice. Below is 1917's "Fruit Bowl."

Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' is seen as the start of cubism

The 1907 work rejects many of the art world norms of the time, like linear perspective and realistic depictions of light. Picasso's painting also nods to African masks, demonstrating a willingness to indulge in styles outside the Western canon.

Picasso was one of the 20th century's most influential artists

The artist is recognized as one of the inventors of cubism, which simplified figures and scenes into flattened geometric shapes and imagined arrangements. The movement spurred new styles in response and led to increasingly abstract art. Styles like futurism, dada, De Stijl, and art deco were built on the simple forms, abstract ideas, collage, and found objects of early cubism.

Picasso's Blue Period was inspired by loss

Picasso's friend Casagemas, a poet he met in Barcelona, died by suicide in 1901. The event shook the young Picasso, leading to what would later be called his Blue Period. The work from this time reflected the loss of Casagemas and others, as well as broader themes of suffering and marginalization in society, portraying their faces and other outcasts of society in elegiac hues of blue and other cold colors. The era is one of the artist’s most famous bodies of work, including several iconic paintings, such as "The Death of Casagemas," pictured below.

Picasso was initially ignored by the US art market

Picasso’s now-iconic style was radical for its time and, as such, was something the US art market initially ignored. Hugh Eakin, author of “Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America,” tells the story of the social norms, tax laws, and influential figures like lawyer John Quinn that set the course for modern art in America in the early 1900s.

Picasso was on trial for the theft of the 'Mona Lisa'

On August 22, 1911, the world was stunned by the theft of the "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre in Paris. As an international investigation searched for the culprit, a young Picasso was suspected to be part of a group of its thieves. While innocent in the disappearance of the Mona Lisa, he found himself on trial with reasonable suspicion: He was in possession of two Iberian statues that were the property of the same museum.

Picasso is the bestselling painter of all time

Picasso’s artistic legacy remains lucrative 50 years after his death. His output was immense, and several individual works have sold at auction for over $100M. Those sales were not only jaw-dropping but also historic, leading to Picasso’s place as the top-grossing artist of all time.

In 1949, photography changed Picasso's perspective

Picasso never stopped experimenting, moving through new and familiar styles and materials throughout his life. Despite that, most people only associate Picasso with painting. But in 1949, a chance encounter with Albanian-American photographer Gjon Mili brought yet another medium into Picasso’s world: light.

Picasso was also a poet

In addition to his painting, Picasso wrote poetry, including several works that were published by his friend André Breton, founder of the surrealist movement, who described reading the poems as “being in the presence of an intimate journal, both of the feelings and of the senses, such as has never been kept before.”

Camus directed a Picasso-penned play

The show, called "Desire Caught by the Tail," was written by Picasso in 1941 while living in Nazi-occupied Paris. It was first staged in 1944, featuring several French intellectuals, including Albert Camus, who directed, as well as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, who had starring roles.

Looting art is often a byproduct of war

During WWII, Hitler orchestrated the theft of many masterpieces to eventually create his own museum. While many of these were recovered, iconic works such as Raphael's "[Portrait of a Young Man](https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/the-story-of-the-lost-raphaels-portrait-of-a-young-man/)" and Vincent van Gogh's "Painter on His Way to Work" remain missing or were destroyed by the Nazis.

Bellagio hotel sells Picasso artwork

Eleven Picasso paintings and other works that helped turn Las Vegas into an unlikely destination for art were sold at auction for more than $100 million.

'Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.'

- Legendary artist Picasso (1881–1973)

Riveting artwork from the battlefields during World War I

During World War I, the United States government commissioned eight artists to accompany American Expeditionary Forces to Europe to sketch and document what they saw. Drawing tanks, soldiers, shattered villages, and even German prisoners of war, the artists preserved much of the war as a matter of historical record and to rally support back home.

The ideas of Einstein and Freud combined in 'The Persistence of Memory'

The Persistence of Memory was painted on a canvas roughly the size of a sheet of paper, depicting a desolate landscape with melting clocks, ants, and a distorted figure. The piece incorporates Freud and Einstein's ideas, resulting in a haunting composition symbolizing time's fluidity and Dalí's personal anxieties.

The Surrealists shunned Dalí for his fascination with fascism

Dalí had a fascination with Adolf Hitler and was also a fan of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. It's unclear how serious Dalí was about it; regardless, his admiration for authoritarians got him expelled by the antiwar and progressive surrealists.

Basquiat impressed Warhol by quickly painting a picture of the two men

After Jean-Michel Basquiat was introduced to Andy Warhol in 1982, Warhol took a Polaroid photo of the two of them, and Basquiat ran home (about a mile and a half) to paint it. Two hours later, he returned with Doz Cabezas. The act impressed Warhol, who mentored the young artist.

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom of Speech' has become an internet meme

The famous painting, which portrays a man in work clothes speaking up in a crowd of men in suits, has become a companion image for internet users posting unpopular or controversial opinions. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Guatemala’s Regina José Gallindo's works protested abuses against women

In this in-depth interview with Bomb magazine, she discusses her motivations and inspirations for pieces like Recorte Por La Línea, in which she invited a plastic surgeon to mark everything he would change on her body to make it “ideal.”

Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 launched World War II

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany launched a surprise invasion of Poland using blitzkrieg—coordinated air bombardments and armored assaults—to overwhelm Polish defenses within weeks. This lightning-strike strategy shocked the world and signaled both the start of World War II and a revolutionary shift in modern military tactics.

The attacks prompted a quick jump in American public support for war

In a Gallup poll taken days after the attack, an extraordinary 97% of Americans approved Congress declaring war on Japan—reflecting overwhelming national unity in the wake of the strike.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Why wasn't German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm punished for starting WWI?

The accusations were explosive: a head of state had not only begun an illegal war, but egged his troops on to a series of horrific atrocities that left

Revolutionary leader Che Guevara has a complicated historical legacy

Revolutionary icon or ruthless enforcer? This animated courtroom-style video weighs Che Guevara’s life and actions—tracing his rise alongside Castro, his role in revolutionary violence, and his global symbolism—before leaving viewers to render their own verdict.

Kurt Vonnegut's 'Cat's Cradle' was inspired by the bombing of Hiroshima

The writer fought in World War II and witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, which he recounted in 1969's satirical "Slaughterhouse Five." Six years earlier, though, he wrote about the bombing of Hiroshima in "Cat's Cradle," channeling some of the horror he witnessed in Dresden to write about the dropping of the atomic bomb. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

In 1945, Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí and legendary animator Walt Disney began collaborating on a short film that was not completed until 2003, years after both men had died.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Fireworks make a loud booming sound after exploding due to air expanding faster than the speed of sound.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.