Black And White Is Fifty Shades Of Grey

Picasso’s painting Guernica is confronting. In addition to the subject matter, there’s also its size, energy and passion to come to terms with. When standing in front of this 3.49 metres by 7.77 metres apocalyptic vision in grey, black and white, the viewer can’t help but feel the pain and suffering the people of the Basque town of Guernica must have felt in the face of their annihilation by the bombs being dropped from Nazi German and Fascist Italian warplanes.

Picasso’s masterpiece is often referred to as the greatest anti-war painting in history. There is no colour – no saturated reds, yellows or blues; no pulsating pinks or