“Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy”
—Pablo Picasso.
The first overtly political works made by Pablo Picasso, Sueño y mentira de Franco I & II (The Dream and Lie of Franco), are two plates consisting of serial vignettes, that combined, create an eighteen-scene narrative. Invoking a style akin to comic strips, a format historically associated with mass-appeal and popular culture, this pair of etchings sought to graphically illustrate the violence of General Franco's totalitarian regime. Picasso sold the works to benefit Franco’s opposition, the Spanish Republic, showcasing his commitment to artistic activism and profound social engagement.
Combining his signature cubist style with a biting political commentary, Picasso applies distorted figuration to emphasize the grotesque imagery of war and the dehumanizing toll of dictatorship. In the first work, Sueno y mentira de Franco I, Picasso portrays Franco as a monstrous figure ravaging the landscape in conquest for power. Here, the artist's critique is explored through satire: the dictator is shown humorously disfigured, feminized in a silk veil, riding a pig, attacked by a bull, and raising his sword with an oversized phallus. Despite the playful quality of this first etching, the second print reveals the darker, violent realities experienced by the Spanish public. In this work, the bestialized Franco devours his horse's innards alongside graphic renderings of decimated bodies killed in battle. The final four scenes were executed on June 7th 1937, several months after the prints' initial conception in January, following the bombing of Guernica. These vignettes are differentiated from the rest of the work as Picasso depicts the suffering of women and children through a fervent application of line. Serving as partial studies for his infamous Guernica mural, these scenes reflect the increasing influence of politics in Picasso's oeuvre.
