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X-rays find Guernica holding up
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Published: July 27, 2008
MADRID, Spain - Picasso's masterpiece Guernica depicts intense suffering, but its own health is not in danger.
That's the diagnosis after the first X-ray of the painting carried out by the Reina Sofia art museum.
The X-ray of the large-format canvas -- 11 feet by 25 feet -- was part of a series of tests begun over a year ago.
The last major analysis of Guernica, done 10 years ago, turned up 129 imperfections -- ranging from cracks to creases to marks and stains -- attributed to the painting's hectic past.
"The X-ray lets us see in what condition the painting is in, its makeup, the colors and the damage it has suffered," said Manuel Borja-Villel, the director of Reina Sofia, Spain's national museum of 20th century art.
Guernica was commissioned by the Republican government of Spain to represent the country at a Universal Exposition in Paris in 1937 as Spain writhed in a bloody civil war started by future dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. After the fair, the painting went on the road for nearly 20 years, showing in numerous cities on both sides of the Atlantic.
The painting made its final trip when it was transferred to Spain in 1981 from MoMA, where it had been deposited on a long-term loan by Picasso until democracy was restored back in Spain.
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