Pablo Picasso may have been Spanish, but from early on in his career to his death at 91, he made France his home.
In 1937, freshly separated from his wife, Picasso was in search of a new apartment and art studio in Paris. His mistress and muse du jour, Dora Maar, found an apartment at 7 rue des Grands-Augustins, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
The apartment itself already had an artistic background, serving as a location for one of French romantic writer Honoré Balzac’s books.
Picasso toured the vacant apartment and immediately fell in love. He moved in shortly thereafter, and this remained his main studio until he left Paris in 1955.
January 1937 was also when the artist was commissioned by the newly elected 2nd Spanish republic headed by President Manuel Azaña to paint a mural for the country’s submission to the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris. He at first decided against painting a political piece even though a bitter civil war was taking place in Spain at the time. This civil war, sparked by a decree of opposition made by a group of conservative loyalist generals against the elected liberal government but fueled by the great depression, quickly devolved into wide scale leftist revolution and conservative counter-revolution. The Republicans were made up of liberals, communists, anarchists, led by the current president and backed by Joseph Stalin. On the other hand, the opposition was comprised by conservatives, Catholic groups, fascists, led by General Francisco Franco and backed by Hitler and Mussolini. The two sides waged war against each other for months. On April 26th 1937, the Wehrmacht (United military forces of Nazi Germany) attacked the city of Guernica in Northern Spain, a strategic communication center for the Republican forces. The bombing of Guernica served as a military test for the Nazi army to see if they could effectively wipe out a city via bombing and helped them develop what would later be known as their Blitzkrieg military tactic.
The mission worked and Guernica was desolated, leaving mostly women and children as casualties since most of the Spanish male population was away at war.
Back in Paris, Picasso and the rest of the world received news of the attack. After mulling it over and hearing eye witness accounts of the destruction, he decided to make this the subject of his submission to the 1937 World’s Fair on behalf of Spain. He completed the piece after a little over a month of work and in July it was exhibited at the Spanish pavilion at the fair. Above the pavilion were the words “We are fighting for the independence of our country and for the right of the Spanish people to determine their own destiny”
After the Exhibition, the work toured Europe before making it to America. It found a home at the MOMA in New York where the Artist requested it stay until Spain regain democracy, as Franco and his party won the civil war and fascism took over Spain. Guernica remained at the MOMA until 1981.
As for himself, Picasso remained in Paris, even as France capitulated to Nazi forces (in another successful Blitzkrieg attack) became occupied, Paris included. His Spanish citizenship gave him immunity to remain in France but, considered a “degenerate” artist by Adolf Hitler, he was still a target for harassment by the Gestapo who often came by his studio, sometimes for raids and sometimes to visit out of curiosity.
It is said that one day, a Nazi officer came by Picasso’s studio, where the artist had prints and photos of Guernica. When the Gestapo officer asked him if he had made the piece in question,  Picasso replied “No, you did”.
