According to Simon Schama s book The Power of Art Guernica was painted in response to an article that Picaso saw in an French newspaper The first line suggests that he was already working on the project when the bombs fell He had agreed to do a politically minded painting for a 1937 Paris Fair but he had not decided what he was going to do until after the events in Geurnica unfolded It was a front page photograph of the inferno that inspired the work Quite possibly apocryphal I cut this from the article A story quite possibly apocryphal circulates about Guernica During World War II a German officer sees a copy of the painting for the first time in the presence of Picasso In a wondering tone he asks Picasso Did you do this and Picasso replies No you did If it is quite possibly apocryphal and we have no attribution or citation it does not belong in the article Talk 02 33 Dec 14 2004 UTC Except that this is extremely widely believed and noted I recall hearing the equivalent when I was at the Prado 02 40 Dec 14 2004 UTC Then someone should be able to find a citation at least of the anecdote being told was Guernica ever in the Prado In the early 80s it was in an annex to the Prado and then was moved to the Reina Sofia no Talk 07 32 Dec 14 2004 UTC Duh yeah that is what I meant to say It has been 4 years since I was there Yes I would think someone could find a source for that being a common anecdote 13 32 Dec 14 2004 UTC The most specific version I could find as that Picasso is supposed to have said this in 1937 replying to German ambassador Otto Abetz as he was visiting Picasso s studio Then there are versions that have Picasso handing out postcards sometimes autographed even to Germans while making this quip but the most popular is probably the one that uses an anonymous German officer bringing seeing a postcard photograph None of these sites mention sources of course but this one has an interesting addition Picasso himself probably had contributed to Barr s and others perception of him having behaved rather boldly throughout the war when immediately following the liberation he told an American correspondent for Newsweek magazine that on the day when a German army officer had recognized a sketch of Guernica pinned to the wall of his studio and had asked him Did you do that Picasso coldly had replied No you did Now the tale originates with Picasso himself and is told to Newsweek which makes this version much more credible than the others since it s hard to see how a response to Abetz or a group of officers would not be better documented while it s equally hard to see how a reply to a single anonymous German officer could be known at all Unfortunately no other site corroborates the Newsweek detail I ve sent a mail to the Newsweek editors and I ll keep you posted If someone could check out some Picasso biographies to check whether they mention the anecdote and what source they give if any that would be great 13 14 2005 Apr 25 UTC We can certainly cite the fact that Picasso himself told a possibly apocryphal story It makes the line his even if it s not clear he really said it in the claimed circumstances Talk 16 05 Apr 26 2005 UTC Yes if Picasso really told it So far no sources are backing up that website or even just repeating that version so I m not too keen on it Otherwise the whole thing is just as apocryphal as before Talk 16 46 2005 Apr 26 UTC If anyone is up for some library work old Newsweeks are pretty easy to find Talk 06 31 Apr 27 2005 UTC Nudity I reverted this from Category Paintings containing nudity to Category Paintings Clearly the fact that one naked female human breast is visible in the painting is a very minor fact about the painting no one by a very weird obsessive would look for it there It is primarily a political work about war I could make a case that it is a perfect illustration that nakedness is not always nudity but I think it suffices to say