ABSTRACT
Picasso chose to stay on in Paris and at the seaside resort of Royan
after France fell to the Nazis in 1940. Among the paintings which
he had with him was
Guernica
, 1937, the mural-sized work provoked
by the German carpet-bombing of the ancient Basque capital during
the Spanish Civil War. In an exchange which allegedly took place
when German soldiers entered his studio, one pointed to the canvas,
asking ‘Did you do that?’ ‘No,’ Picasso is said to have replied ‘you
did.’ On another occasion, Picasso gave postcards of
Guernica
to
German soldiers on leave in Paris (Hilton 1996: 256).
