Publicizing atrocity and legitimizing outrage: Picasso’s Guernica.

Picasso created his most famous painting, Guernica , in just over three weeks in 1937 after the bombing of the little town of Guernica, located in the Basque region, during the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. In its sharp lines, its confusion and its distorted shapes, Guernica shows the suffering and pain of war. Rather than using color, especially vivid reds, Picasso used only black and white paint as symbols of death, mourning and tragedy. He believed that brighter colors might distract the viewer from the agony of the scene. In Guernica , most of the figures have open mouths; hear them shouting, groaning or screaming. The aim of this paper and its relevance to public relations is to examine whether and how visual communication can publicize and frame a military event, the character of military leaders, and warfare as a generic aspect of democratic self-governance. This paper proposes that rhetorical, discursive art can contribute impact to public relations efforts, by focusing attention, making issues public, and making informative, framing, and democratizing statements. Even more important is the ability of art to express moral outrage, especially when giving voice to muted interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]