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Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica, 1937,is modern art’s most powerful statement against war. It is an artwork that is strongly linked to the time and social circumstances it was painted in. The artist expresses the vital need for universal peace so explicitly that its political statement cannot be ignored. Picasso’s inspiration for Guernica was triggered by an important event in the world at that time. Picassos homeland, Spain, was experiencing brutal civil war. Republican forces were under attack from a fascist group led by Genralissimo Francisco Franco. From the outbreak of civil war, Picasso was on the side of the legitimate Republican government and in January 1937 the government commissioned him to paint a mural for the Spanish pavilion at the Paris world Fair. Initially Picasso intended to paint a representation of the freedom of art, using a studio scene with painter and model. However when news of the bombing of the holy Basque town, Guernica, reached Picasso his ideas for the mural took a dramatic turn. On the 26th of April the town of Guernica was totally destroyed in just three and a half hours by Falangist forces and Spanish, Italian and German troops, under German command. The town was of no military importance