Civil war gives Picasso the blues

Q: What is the story behind the creation of Picasso's Guernica?

A: Guernica is a mural-size canvas that Pablo Picasso created for the Paris World Expo in 1937. He was invited by the Spanish government to create it for the country's national pavilion to draw people's attention to the ongoing civil war there.

The painting depicts the scene after the bombing of the Basque town of the same name on April 26 of that year. The aerial attack conducted by the German Luftwaffe was the first saturation bombing of a civilian city - as opposed to hitting military targets - and 1,654 civilians died.