Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881 - 1973Sueño y Mentira de Franco II (The Dream and Lie of Franco), 1937
Not on view
Etching and aquatint on paper
Dimensions12 3/8 × 16 5/8 in. (31.4 × 42.2 cm)
Gift of Mrs. R. Spencer Bishop, 1942.6.1
Considered to be the greatest etcher of the 20th century, Spanish artist Pablo Picasso began a suite of etchings entitled Sueño y Mentira de Franco (The Dream and Lie of Franco) in January of 1937, and completed the project five months later. Each plate was divided into nine postcard-sized rectangles, containing images related to Picasso’s epic work, Guernica (now in the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid), which depicted the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War.
The majority of scenes depict the horrors of Generalissimo Franco’s aerial bombardment of the civilian population of Madrid, especially the agony of women and children. In this series, Picasso exploits the human fascination with deformity and the grotesque. Civilian resistance, symbolically represented by the bull, was a principle source of optimism and positive propaganda in the face of military atrocities. Sueño y Mentira de Franco was intended to raise money for the cause and serve as a vivid propagandistic statement.
