Guernica

Large oil painting (3.5 m x 7.8 m/11 ft 5 in x 25 ft 6 in) by Pablo Picasso as a mural for the Spanish pavilion at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1937 (now in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid), inspired by the bombing of Guernica, the seat of the Basque parliament during the Spanish Civil War. The painting, executed entirely in black, white, and grey, was the culmination of years of experimentation. It has since become a symbol of the senseless destruction of war.