Focus on The Charnel House and explore the Background.
This painting is considered to be an anti-war statement, yet Picasso was largely apolitical until the Spanish Civil War. His art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler said that he had been the "most apolitical man" he had ever known. The Spanish Civil War caused Picasso to become more concerned with politics, which led to the creation of his first anti-war painting, Guernica in 1937. In 1945, Picasso asserted his political role as an artist.What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he's a painter, or ears if he's a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if he's a poet, or even, if he's a boxer, just his muscles? On the contrary, he's at the same time a political being, constantly alive to heartrending, fiery, or happy events, to which he responds in every way [...] No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy.During World War II, Picasso lived in Paris, while it was occupied by the Nazis. Despite their attempts to win over French intellectuals with offers of food and coal, Picasso was persistently defiant, stating that, "A Spaniard is never cold". The impact of the Second World War resulted in many of Picasso's artworks becoming more political, and he depicted the effects of the occupation in dark, grey hues. The Charnel House is considered to be Picasso's most political painting since he painted Guernica in 1937. It was inspired by a documentary about a Spanish Republican family who were killed in their kitchen. The subject matter had particular significance to Picasso, as he had lost many friends during the war. It therefore represented a memorial to the Spanish Republicans who lost their lives during the occupation of France. Over the course of the Nazi occupation, approximately 75,000 people were executed in the region of Paris. Many French intellectuals died during this period, such as Robert Desnos, Otto Freundlich and Max Jacob. Other artists managed to escape France to reach other countries, such as Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Alberto Giacometti and Max Ernst.In the autumn of 1944, Picasso was reported to have stated, "I did not paint the war, because I am not one of those artists who go looking for a subject like a photographer, but there is no doubt that the war is there in the pictures which I painted then."
Marc Chagall Max Ernst Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler Second World War Fernand Léger occupied by the Nazis apolitical Max Jacob The Charnel House Nazi Spanish Civil War Marcel Duchamp Guernica Alberto Giacometti Otto Freundlich anti-war Robert Desnos World War II