Museum-grade recreation · archival canvas · hand-finished · deep-zoom on request
Commission by request — licensed
Guernica
Pablo Picasso · 1881–1973Picasso's vast grey mural answers the aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica with a monochrome scream of severed limbs, a shrieking horse and a grieving mother. It is the most powerful anti-war painting ever made.
Did you know
For decades Picasso refused to let Guernica return to Spain until the country was a republic; it finally came home in 1981, after both the artist and Franco had died.
This modern master remains in copyright. We recreate it only under licence or estate permission — begin with a private enquiry and our curators will handle the rights.
The Story
Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
The Full Story
Full analysis
Picasso began 1937 with a commission from the Spanish Republican government for a large mural for the Paris International Exposition, working without urgency until 26 April 1937, when Nazi Germany's Condor Legion, supporting Franco's Nationalist forces, carried out a two-hour saturation bombing of the Basque town of Guernica. Picasso completed the 349 x 776.5 cm canvas in about five weeks, finishing 4 June 1937, aided by American painter John Ferren, while his companion Dora Maar photographed its evolution across 36 days. Picasso restricted the palette to black, white, and grey house paint, producing a flat, photograph-like surface. Reading the composition means tracking recurring, deliberately ambiguous figures: a bull stands impassively over a woman cradling a dead child; a horse collapses centrally with a spear wound; a dismembered soldier lies beneath the horse; a bare bulb shaped like an eye hangs over the carnage; a dove on a cracked wall introduces a faint suggestion of hope. Picasso refused to assign fixed symbolic meanings, famously stating 'this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... I make the painting for the painting,' leaving scholars to debate the work's deepest meaning.
Technique & materials
Guernica is oil on canvas, 349.3 x 776.5 cm, executed with specially formulated matte house paint rather than conventional artist's oils, producing a flat, documentary finish. The canvas required physical assistance to prepare given its scale. Picasso worked in an extended campaign of successive states over roughly five weeks, repeatedly reworking major figures, a process captured in Dora Maar's photographs.
Provenance
Guernica debuted in July 1937 at the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris International Exposition. Paul Rosenberg organized a touring exhibition across Scandinavia and to London, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester to raise awareness of the Spanish Republican cause. After Franco's 1939 victory, Picasso placed the painting in MoMA's custody, stipulating it not return to Spain until 'liberty and democracy had been established' there. It toured the US extensively and hung at MoMA until 1981, when, following Spain's democratic transition, the museum ceded the painting to Spain; it moved to its current gallery at the Museo Reina Sofía in 1992.
Conservation history
On 28 February 1974, activist Tony Shafrazi spray-painted 'KILL LIES ALL' across the canvas at MoMA; because the painting was varnished, conservators removed the paint without lasting damage. X-ray analysis in 2008 confirmed the canvas 'has suffered a lot but is not in danger.' Museo Reina Sofía conservators regard the work as too structurally fragile for further travel.
In dialogue with
The Heirloom
Each recreation is a strictly limited edition of twenty-five, hand-finished on archival canvas and issued with a signed Certificate of Authenticity carrying its own unique Heirloom №.
Explore the world of this masterwork
Before you commission
Is this the original Guernica?+
No — this is a museum-grade, entirely hand-finished recreation of Guernica by Pablo Picasso, faithful to the original in scale, palette and brushwork. The original remains in a public collection; yours is made, by private commission, to hang on your own walls.
How is each piece made?+
Every commission is hand-finished on archival canvas, framed to order, and issued with a signed Certificate of Authenticity carrying a unique Heirloom №. Materials, size and finish are chosen with you during a private viewing.
How long does a commission take?+
Typically 30–45 days from confirmation. We take a 50% advance to begin the work, with the balance due on completion, followed by white-glove delivery.
What does Guernica cost?+
Commissions for this masterwork begin from ₹50,000. Final pricing depends on the size and finish you choose, confirmed during your private viewing.
Kindred masterworks
Continue the viewing.
Own Guernica, recreated to museum grade. ArtzFolio ∞ Infinity reproduces Guernica, painted 1937 by Pablo Picasso, on hand-primed archival canvas, finished by the hand of our atelier and numbered as a strictly limited Heirloom edition (Heirloom № 1114). Available in your chosen dimensions, frame and finish, from ₹50,000, delivered across India with white-glove care. For decades Picasso refused to let Guernica return to Spain until the country was a republic; it finally came home in 1981, after both the artist and Franco had died.
See more from Pablo Picasso and the world of Cubism, or search the Infinity Archive for every related masterpiece. Ready to begin? Request a private viewing and reserve your Heirloom № in your name.
Keywords: Guernica reproduction, Guernica canvas print, buy Guernica painting, Pablo Picasso masterpiece reproduction, museum-grade fine-art canvas, framed wall art India, commission a hand-finished reproduction, luxury heirloom art.