La Guernica Interpretation

Bang talks about how vertical shapes are more active and in Picasos' piece, La Guernica, he uses many vertical lines and triangular shapes that may represent a lot of movement. She also talks about diagonal shapes, which many of them are in this piece, giving a sense of tension. In La Guernica tension is jumping off the pages. Behind all of the painfull faces there are dark and light diagonal shapes. Bang writes about how the center of the page is the center of attention. La Guernica is about the Spanish Civil War and in the center of Picasos' painting there is a hand holding a diamond shape, half being black and the other white. This gives a sense of the two opposing forces. Where as in other sections of the painting, different (or the same) hand is holding what looks like a light, a broken sword, or a fallen child.
Bang also writes about a light background vs. a dark background. In La Guernica, the background is black, Bang interprets this as unsafe because you can not see as well at night as you can during the day. I defiantly would not feel safe in the painting. Bang writes about how the top half of the page represents freedom and the bottom represents a more threatened feeling. In the painting, a hand is holding a light, it is centered in the middle, and grounded (fallen) at the bottom.