The story behind a masterpiece
杰作背后的故事
It's the heart of winter, 1941. Pablo Picasso was living and working on the top floor of an old house on the Left Bank of Paris.
1941年正值隆冬时节。巴勃罗·毕加索当时在巴黎左岸一座老房子的顶层生活和工作。
Most of Europe was under the conltrol of the Third Reich at the time.
当时欧洲大部分地区处于第三帝国的控制之下。
Every so often, Picasso got visits from the Gestapo.
偶尔,盖世太保会来拜访毕加索。
One day, there was a visit that passed into Picasso's legend.
一天,有一次拜访成为了毕加索的传奇故事。
The unwelcome visitor snooped around a bit and noticed there were postcards of Picasso's most famous work lying around,
这位不受欢迎的造访者四处窥探了一下会儿,发现周围凌乱地摆放着印有毕加索名画的明信片,
which showed what happened on a small Basque town in when German bombs fell the Spanish Civil War.
明信片上画的是西班牙内战时德国轰炸巴斯克一个小镇的情景。
"Did you do this?" he said. "Oh, no," said Picasso.
“这是你画的吗?”他说。“哦,不是的。”毕加索说。
"You did. Go on, take one as a souvenir."
“是你画的。拿一个吧,作为纪念。”
Great response, good story, but what can art really do in the face of war?
回应很好,故事很美,但在战争面前,艺术究竟能做什么呢?
Shouldn't art just stick to what it does best— the delivery of pleasure, and forget about being a paintbrush warrior?
难道艺术不应该坚持发挥其所长——传递快乐,而不是要成为一名画笔战士吗?
Or is it, when the bombs are dropping, that we find out what art is really for?
抑或是,只有当炸弹从天而降时,我们才能搞清楚艺术的真正目的是什么。
On April 26, 1937, a group of German aircraft, in support of the Spanish fascists,
1937年4月26日,出于支持西班牙法西斯分子的目的,
ruined the town of Guernica with 40 tons of bombs, killing more than 1,600 people.
德国的一批飞机用40吨炸弹将西班牙格尔尼卡镇夷为平地,造成1600多人死亡。
It was the first time that Europe had suffered such a ruthless, massive bombing.
这是欧洲第一次遭受这样无情的大规模轰炸。
Picasso's response was to create the most important painting of his life—Guernica.
毕加索的回应创作了他一生中最重要的画作——《格尔尼卡》。