Ben Macintyre considers 'Guernica' as powerful as ever

The columnist Ben Macintyre takes a fresh look at Picassos's work 'Guernica' on the 70th anniversary of the bombing. "Franco's Fascist allies in Germany and Italy had deliberately targeted a defenceless civilian population … . Picasso painted Guernica in a state of shock and wonder. ... From a distance of 70 years, however, the scenes that inspired Picasso seem grimly familiar. After Guernica came the London Blitz, Dresden, Hiroshima, Hanoi and Baghdad. The bombing of civilians is an accepted, indeed a central element of warfare, despite the euphemisms of 'strategic bombing' and 'collateral damage'. ... The painting has lost none of it power to embarrass the military caste. A tapestry copy of Guernica hangs in the UN building, outside the Security Council meeting room. In 2003, when General Colin Powell came to the UN to make the case for war, the image was discreetly swathed in a blue shroud."

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