Pablo Picasso once described painting as, "not made to decorate houses." Instead, the artist described it as "an instrument of offensive and defensive war against the enemy." Picasso, despite his paintings appearing to be quite unoffensive, enjoyable pieces, actually intended for his work to help with the progression of Communism and anti-Fascism, of which he was an active supporter.
One of his most famous pieces of course, being Guernica. Guernica is a highly descriptive and moving image depicting the Spanish Civil War, and is one of the many paintings that Picasso completed to portray his disgust for Fascism. Despite the apparent lack of politics and personal belief in much of his work - (particularly his earlier stuff - his still lifes, portraits and other ordinary-object paintings) - it is actually quite apparent throughout Picasso's career.
His Charnel House, painted in 1944-45, shows a murdered family, thrown under their kitchen table. There are definite links to Goya's "Disasters of War" and Charnel House. The black, white and grey shades that Picasso uses in his more serious works, such as Guernica and Charnel House, show the gloom and morbidity of war, Fascism and, ultimately, living in a world that does not fit in with your systems of belief.
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