Pablo Picasso Massacre in Korea

Annessa Chan:

A group of faceless soldiers point their guns at four women and four children in clear distress. They stand naked and helpless in a barren landscape, making their fear and vulnerability even more poignant.

Massacre in Korea was a response to the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. Key to the Cold War, the eastern bloc comprised of the Soviet Union and Communist China backing North Korea, while the western bloc led by the United States supported South Korea. In 1944, Picasso joined the Communist Party of France in response to the rise of fascism in his native Spain. This painting serves as a protest against the violence unfolding on the other side of the globe.

Picasso rarely painted current events. To help him address the subject, he drew inspiration from iconic European paintings, including Francisco Goya’s The Third of May 1808 and Édouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian. This is one of Picasso’s few known works that directly references Asia. In fact, Picasso never even travelled outside Europe. He likely relied on photos from newspapers covering the war as a reference.

During this period, newspapers began printing in colour. Eager to share his anti-war message, Picasso intended for this work to be seen both as a painting and a printed image, depicting the figures in black and white against a coloured background. The painting remains a powerful testament to the devastating impact of war.

NARRATOR:

Pablo Picasso created this oil painting, titled Massacre in Korea, in 1951. Measuring 110 centimetres in height and 210 centimetres in width, it is about the size of a horizontally placed door.

The painting features two groups of nude figures in shades of grey. They are in a standoff in the wilderness. On the left are four women, three children, and an infant, with the women’s faces contorted in anguish or fear. On the right, six soldiers in helmets point guns and swords at them. The adult figures in the painting are all about the same height as the canvas. The wilderness is portrayed in greens and yellows, with hills and plains visible in the distance.

The four female nudes on the left side of the composition stay close together. Two appear pregnant, with the one on the far left having the larger belly. She stares up at the sky, her face contorted in profound pain. One of her hands rests on her forehead, while the other is protectively placed over a child standing on tiptoe beside her, their face buried in her waist. The woman next to her has an equally tortured expression. She appears to have tears streaming down her face as she holds an infant in a tight embrace. Her head tilts to one side, with one cheek pressed against the baby. To her right stands the other pregnant woman with her eyes closed, arms hanging at her sides with palms facing forward. She holds hands with the young girl next to her. The girl is half a head shorter than the women and has an expressionless face. She covers her chest with her free hand. A younger child runs towards her with arms high above their head as they look back at the soldiers in fear. Between this child and the girl is another younger child crouching on the floor, seemingly playing with stone-like objects.

The six nude soldiers on the right wear identical helmets, their rigid stances appearing robotic and emotionless. Their rifles and swords are raised and aimed at the group on the left. The two men closest to the women and children stand with their legs wide apart as they take aim. The soldiers’ bulging, sharply defined muscles create a stark contrast with the women’s soft and slender figures.

Behind the women and children, the green hills are marred by yellowing wilt and decay. A damaged white building sits atop a hill. In the centre of the composition, a smudge of yellow streaked with dark brown suggests ruins or scorched earth.