00:00:11.792 --> 00:00:15.458
Pablo Picasso paints Guernica in Paris
between May and June 1937.

00:00:15.625 --> 00:00:18.417
The outbreak of the civil war in 1936
and Franco's long dictatorship

00:00:18.583 --> 00:00:22.292
for almost 40 years meant that the
painting did not enter Spain until 1981.

00:00:22.875 --> 00:00:25.708
I grew up hearing about Guernica.

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.250
My father, Javier Tusell,

00:00:29.292 --> 00:00:32.500
was appointed Director General
of Fine Arts in 1979.

00:00:29.917 --> 00:00:32.917
Genoveva Tusell and Javier Tusell

00:00:33.125 --> 00:00:35.292
Between 1979 and 1981, at home

00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.000
Genoveva Tusell - Author of "El Guernica Recovered".

00:00:35.333 --> 00:00:38.333
there was talk of nothing
else but Guernica.

00:00:40.458 --> 00:00:41.999
'I went to New York
because of Guernica.'

00:00:42.042 --> 00:00:43.833
'The Guernica, the Guernica.'

00:00:43.875 --> 00:00:47.167
And at six years old I ended up
deciding that Guernica

00:00:47.333 --> 00:00:50.500
was something that my father had made.
That he had painted Guernica.

00:00:51.583 --> 00:00:54.792
It was only later that
I truly realized the importance

00:00:54.833 --> 00:00:57.083
of what I had experienced, and that

00:00:57.875 --> 00:01:01.833
I had been able to witness
firsthand a historic event

00:01:01.875 --> 00:01:04.833
for our country:
The Guernica's arrival in Spain.

00:01:06.292 --> 00:01:10.333
As the museum's director,
the Guernica is a big responsibility

00:01:10.375 --> 00:01:13.000
because it is, let's say, the key

00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000
Manuel Borja Villel - Director of the Reina Sofía Museum since 2006

00:01:13.042 --> 00:01:17.042
from which our entire collection
is built around.

00:01:17.417 --> 00:01:21.750
It is a symbol of the recovery
of our democratic freedoms

00:01:21.792 --> 00:01:25.750
and of the reconciliation
between all spaniards.

00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:25.000
Marisa Flórez - Photojournalist for EL PAÍS since 1976

00:01:26.999 --> 00:01:30.083
The emotion that you keep
getting from all those

00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:35.208
disemboweled, dying figures
has never been achieved by anyone else

00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.000
Ángeles García - Journalist for EL PAÍS since 1976

00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:36.917
in such powerful way.

00:01:37.042 --> 00:01:41.333
I believe it depicts the suffering
of the spanish people bombarded by fascism.

00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:44.917
And this is very important because it
had a significance back then

00:01:45.042 --> 00:01:48.750
and a significance today as well

00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:50.999
where there's a new
cultural war phenomenon,

00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:55.750
advocated by elements that come

00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000
Severiano Hernández - Deputy Director General of Spanish State Archives

00:01:55.792 --> 00:01:58.333
from the same people
that bombed Guernica.

00:02:01.208 --> 00:02:04.333
But in this sense,
Guernica's arrival

00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:06.000
Álvaro Martínez Novillo, Javier Tusell and Íñigo Cavero.
Photograph by Jesús González.

00:02:04.375 --> 00:02:08.999
in Spain in 1981 also means
to bring closure,

00:02:09.542 --> 00:02:12.917
not only the closure of a chapter
such as the Civil War

00:02:12.958 --> 00:02:17.833
and all the years of dictatorship,
but also to welcome the great masterpiece

00:02:17.875 --> 00:02:19.625
of our most international artist.

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Guernica: the last exile

00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.000
Guernica: the last exile

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000
Pablo Picasso working on Guernica in 1937.

00:02:32.875 --> 00:02:33.999
He absorbs everything

00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.667
that has been explored before,
and then reinvents it all.

00:02:37.999 --> 00:02:40.417
He was a genius since
he was very young.

00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.000
Picasso and Miró at the Spanish Pavilion in Paris, 1937.

00:02:43.917 --> 00:02:46.417
In the late 20's and early 30's

00:02:46.583 --> 00:02:50.042
a new generation of artists
begins to emerge.

00:02:50.333 --> 00:02:53.167
They produce a type of work
that is far

00:02:53.333 --> 00:02:55.375
from what he was doing at that time.

00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000
Spanish Pavilion at the International Exposition of Paris, 1937.

00:02:56.625 --> 00:03:00.333
When Picasso got commissioned
by the Republic,

00:03:00.833 --> 00:03:04.667
his was to be the key work,
the most outstanding work of the Pavilion

00:03:04.708 --> 00:03:08.958
of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 Paris
International Exhibit.

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Picasso was already close
with the Government of the Republic.

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Guernica during the initial phase of creation in 1937.

00:03:12.958 --> 00:03:16.792
He'd also been appointed director
of the Prado Museum in 1936,

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and the work was comissioned with the purpose of
showing what was happening in Spain.

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It's true that it took Picasso some time
to find the subject matter for the painting

00:03:27.167 --> 00:03:29.625
and it is told that it was
by looking at the photographs

00:03:29.667 --> 00:03:33.583
of the bombing of Guernica
that he finally found his inspiration.

00:03:35.250 --> 00:03:41.750
On April 26, 1937, in the course of
the Spanish Civil War,
the German Condor Legion and the
Italian Legionary Aviation, fighting on behalf

00:03:41.792 --> 00:03:47.542
of the rebel side against the government
of the Second Republic, launched an attack on the civilian
population of Guernica that almost
completely devastated it.

00:03:47.708 --> 00:03:52.625
When he first presented the painting in Paris,
not everybody liked it.

00:03:52.708 --> 00:03:56.750
Many considered it too avant-garde.

00:03:56.999 --> 00:04:02.208
For others, on the other hand,
it was too political and not artistic enough.

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Guernica at the International Exposition in Paris in 1937.

00:04:02.625 --> 00:04:07.833
From 1938, Guernica was
on loan to be exhibited

00:04:07.917 --> 00:04:10.875
in a series of shows

00:04:10.917 --> 00:04:15.375
whose purpose was to raise funds for the
refugees of the Republic.

00:04:15.417 --> 00:04:18.750
This way, the painting visited
different European cities

00:04:18.792 --> 00:04:21.125
before finally travelling to New York.

00:04:21.167 --> 00:04:24.500
That's when it ended up
being deposited there.

00:04:28.042 --> 00:04:30.417
The curious thing about Guernica is,
that it's a work of art

00:04:30.458 --> 00:04:34.042
which meaning
has been mutating over the years.

00:04:34.083 --> 00:04:35.958
It has been changing.

00:04:36.375 --> 00:04:42.750
The history of Guernica is, in a way,
the history of the culture wars.

00:04:43.167 --> 00:04:49.458
It's clearly a propaganda
element for the Republic.

00:04:49.625 --> 00:04:54.625
It was meant to show the horrors
of the Civil War.

00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.000
The disasters of war - Francisco de Goya

00:05:04.833 --> 00:05:05.792
On the other hand,

00:05:05.833 --> 00:05:11.125
is a work that the exiles take
as a symbol of all the spaniards

00:05:11.167 --> 00:05:14.208
that had to abandon their own country.

00:05:16.583 --> 00:05:18.417
I think Franco merely

00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.000
Álvaro Martínez Novillo
Art critic and Deputy Director General of Plastic Arts in 1981.

00:05:18.500 --> 00:05:22.583
thought of Picasso
as a communist and that's it.

00:05:22.999 --> 00:05:27.250
That he was a communist,
therefore his work propaganda.

00:05:27.292 --> 00:05:30.833
Communist propaganda, etc.

00:05:32.833 --> 00:05:36.917
Within the richness of
our State archives

00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.000
Francisco Franco and Serrano Suñer, 1938

00:05:36.958 --> 00:05:40.958
I have been able to find
files, folders

00:05:40.999 --> 00:05:45.500
named 'Secret files.
Spanish reds in France. Picasso.'

00:05:45.708 --> 00:05:49.583
At that time, there were a lot of
secret files that did

00:05:49.625 --> 00:05:54.167
follow the artist's activities
in France.

00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:59.542
The recognition of the Spanish artist
came very late, and in this sense,

00:05:59.958 --> 00:06:03.333
the recovery of Guernica
and its arrival in 1981,

00:06:03.375 --> 00:06:06.708
somewhat alleviated this situation.

00:06:06.917 --> 00:06:08.999
This was done at a very
decisive moment,

00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.000
Adolfo Suárez and Landelino Lavilla in 1978. Archive of Diario 16.

00:06:09.417 --> 00:06:14.208
which was the Transition.
And it's entrusted to a man who really

00:06:15.042 --> 00:06:17.542
deserves all the recognition

00:06:17.583 --> 00:06:20.625
that is Álvaro Martínez Novillo.

00:06:20.667 --> 00:06:24.125
From that moment on
a research process is carried out

00:06:24.875 --> 00:06:29.667
in an attempt to locate all the documents
existing on the subject.

00:06:34.083 --> 00:06:38.458
There was a clear
willingness by the government

00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:41.583
of the Republic to pay for the painting.
Therefore, it belonged to the Spanish State.

00:06:41.875 --> 00:06:45.125
It should be noted that
the artist died in 1973

00:06:45.167 --> 00:06:51.292
but it's not until 1979 that everything
with Picasso's will is solved.

00:06:51.333 --> 00:06:53.458
It takes six years until
his will gets settled.

00:06:53.792 --> 00:06:56.458
And through a letter, in 1979,

00:06:56.875 --> 00:06:59.625
Claude Picasso demands

00:07:00.250 --> 00:07:04.083
that the family must be consulted

00:07:04.125 --> 00:07:07.542
in any matter regarding Guernica.

00:07:07.667 --> 00:07:10.625
Negotiations are carried out
in different areas.

00:07:10.667 --> 00:07:14.167
On one hand, it's true
that it's necessary to demonstrate

00:07:14.583 --> 00:07:15.958
that Spain is a true democracy.

00:07:15.999 --> 00:07:18.042
And this is achieved by

00:07:18.083 --> 00:07:21.458
approving the new Constitution, convening
the first democratic elections.

00:07:21.958 --> 00:07:25.250
On the other hand, there's also another
very important aspect of the negotiations,

00:07:25.292 --> 00:07:28.292
which is to prove that the painting
is indeed Spanish property.

00:07:28.542 --> 00:07:34.125
Picasso never denied that
the Republic had paid for it.

00:07:34.583 --> 00:07:40.333
What happened was that it got paid
from an account with which the embassy

00:07:40.792 --> 00:07:45.458
paid expenses of espionage,

00:07:46.583 --> 00:07:49.625
the influencing of the media,
among other things.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.542
Now, the receipt has never been found.

00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000
Headquarters of the National Historical Archive, Madrid.

00:08:00.375 --> 00:08:02.000
At that moment,

00:08:02.042 --> 00:08:05.208
the work of one diplomat was decisive:

00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:07.500
Rafael Fernández Quintanilla.

00:08:10.250 --> 00:08:14.500
Fernández Quintanilla contacted
the family of Luis Araquistáin

00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.000
Luis Araquistáin - Ambassador of Spain in France 1936 - 1937

00:08:14.708 --> 00:08:18.333
who had been ambassador
of the Republic, in Paris.

00:08:20.208 --> 00:08:25.125
Several documents were bought,
that were key for proving the ownership.

00:08:25.167 --> 00:08:29.292
These documents are, for example,
letters from Luis Araquistáin,

00:08:29.708 --> 00:08:31.292
others from Max Aub.

00:08:32.292 --> 00:08:34.999
But most importantly,
there's a document deposited in

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.750
the National Historical Archive,
which is decisive:

00:08:37.792 --> 00:08:40.708
A list of
propaganda expenses

00:08:41.125 --> 00:08:44.458
from the Spanish Embassy in Paris.

00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:46.333
At the end of the list

00:08:46.375 --> 00:08:50.292
there's an annotation that reads
'Pablo Picasso (Guernica)'

00:08:50.333 --> 00:08:53.375
followed by the amount
of 150,000 francs,

00:08:53.417 --> 00:08:56.999
which is what he got payed
for his work.

00:08:58.542 --> 00:09:01.833
This way it was proven
that the Spanish State

00:09:01.875 --> 00:09:05.000
was indeed
the owner of the work.

00:09:06.250 --> 00:09:10.208
From there, arrangements are made
with the United States,

00:09:10.625 --> 00:09:14.208
and basically, a political apparatus
is put together for the recovery

00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:18.625
of such an emblematic work
with big significance

00:09:18.667 --> 00:09:21.917
for the Transition,
as well as to try to achieve

00:09:21.958 --> 00:09:25.083
the recognition of the suffering
of the Spanish people.

00:09:25.375 --> 00:09:29.750
Well, when the February 23, 1981,
coup d'état took place,

00:09:29.792 --> 00:09:33.250
evidently all personnel
within the Ministry of Culture,

00:09:33.625 --> 00:09:34.667
which had been working
on the negotiations,

00:09:34.708 --> 00:09:36.625
were certain that, at that moment,

00:09:36.667 --> 00:09:40.167
they had definitely lost the work.

00:09:40.375 --> 00:09:44.500
Surprisingly, in the end
the effect was just the opposite.

00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:57.375
One week before its arrival,
we went to New York

00:09:57.417 --> 00:10:02.000
to do the status report of the

00:10:02.125 --> 00:10:04.833
Guernica and its complementary pieces.

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:06.125
There were

00:10:06.875 --> 00:10:08.917
around 70 pieces.

00:10:08.958 --> 00:10:12.999
That is to say, among drawings,
engravings, other oil paintings,

00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.667
other pieces... basically,

00:10:17.417 --> 00:10:21.125
Picasso made a whole lot

00:10:21.875 --> 00:10:25.167
and that lot itself is
a donation from Picasso.

00:10:26.917 --> 00:10:33.083
The MoMA museum
opened at its regular time

00:10:33.208 --> 00:10:34.958
and I believe it closed
at around eight.

00:10:34.999 --> 00:10:37.917
It was at that time that
the MoMA's management

00:10:37.958 --> 00:10:42.208
informs all its personnel
that they're going to proceed to

00:10:43.333 --> 00:10:44.417
roll up Guernica

00:10:44.458 --> 00:10:47.292
because it's about
to be returned to Spain.

00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:51.000
Dismantling of Guernica at the MOMA in New York, 1981.

00:10:49.083 --> 00:10:53.000
The frame was removed,
the painting rolled up in a

00:10:53.042 --> 00:10:54.958
custom-made wooden roll

00:10:55.042 --> 00:10:57.208
and slipped into a box.

00:10:57.292 --> 00:11:00.250
Keep in mind that it wasn't only
Guernica that was being returned,

00:11:00.292 --> 00:11:01.500
it also would have to travel along

00:11:01.542 --> 00:11:06.250
with a series of works that accompany Guernica:
the sketches, as well as

00:11:06.292 --> 00:11:09.999
what's called the postscripts,
which are a series of works that keep

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.750
a thematic relationship with Guernica
and that have accompanied it

00:11:14.917 --> 00:11:18.625
since it arrived in the United States,
making it an indissoluble whole.

00:11:18.708 --> 00:11:22.083
When we heard that
Guernica and the rest

00:11:22.125 --> 00:11:25.875
of the pieces were safe

00:11:25.917 --> 00:11:27.125
in the storage,

00:11:27.167 --> 00:11:30.458
it was really a tremendous relief.

00:11:30.792 --> 00:11:35.000
It was September 10, 1981.

00:11:36.292 --> 00:11:38.875
I got up very early,
at six in the morning,

00:11:38.917 --> 00:11:41.875
because the night before,
the day before,

00:11:42.750 --> 00:11:47.333
we had officially found out
that Guernica was returning to Spain.

00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:51.000
Arrival of Guernica in Madrid, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez.

00:11:49.042 --> 00:11:52.500
Well, at six in the morning
I was already on my feet,

00:11:52.542 --> 00:11:55.792
nervous and, to tell you the truth,
with a lot of expectation

00:11:55.833 --> 00:12:01.333
and very excited to be able
to cover such a moment.

00:12:01.375 --> 00:12:05.542
I left for the airport
with plenty of time

00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.000
Arrival of Guernica in Madrid, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez.

00:12:05.667 --> 00:12:08.708
because I knew of the extraordinary
security measures.

00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:12.458
There was security everywhere,
and once we arrived,

00:12:13.083 --> 00:12:17.417
once I arrived at the runway
of the airport

00:12:17.583 --> 00:12:22.708
they made us go
towards the cargo terminal area.

00:12:23.625 --> 00:12:26.042
Well, there was an incredible
atmosphere there.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:27.000
Arrival of Guernica in Madrid, 1981. Photograph by Jesús González.

00:12:26.083 --> 00:12:28.208
All the media was there.

00:12:29.333 --> 00:12:30.000
I don't know...

00:12:30.042 --> 00:12:33.125
It felt like a state of anxiety and,
at the same time,

00:12:33.708 --> 00:12:37.542
excitement
for what we were about to witness.

00:12:38.417 --> 00:12:42.042
The hold of the airplane opened

00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.000
Álvaro Martínez Novillo, Javier Tusell and Íñigo Cavero.
Photograph by Jesús González.

00:12:42.417 --> 00:12:45.083
and the big wooden box appeared.

00:12:45.208 --> 00:12:48.875
That moment was... well,
everyone that was there

00:12:48.917 --> 00:12:50.042
started to applaud.

00:12:50.083 --> 00:12:53.999
I think it was from nervousness,
from the excitement, from everything.

00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:54.000
Arrival of Guernica in Madrid, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez.

00:13:07.792 --> 00:13:09.750
Immediately after,

00:13:09.792 --> 00:13:13.000
the shipment headed for the Casón.

00:13:13.458 --> 00:13:17.458
I rode along on a motorcycle,
chasing the caravan

00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:22.042
which was not easy with all the security
measures that were in place.

00:13:22.125 --> 00:13:26.208
I tried to take several photos
from the highway bridges

00:13:26.583 --> 00:13:31.500
where I could see the caravan
heading towards Madrid and towards the Casón.

00:13:31.583 --> 00:13:35.999
And the truth is, it was a very, very impressive image,
because such a caravan

00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.000
Arrival of Guernica in Madrid, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez.

00:13:36.167 --> 00:13:40.125
would only take place
when a foreign head of State came.

00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000
Javier Tusell at the Casón del Buen Retiro in Madrid.
Photograph by Jesús González.

00:13:52.333 --> 00:13:53.999
It was in October

00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.708
when it finally was taken out of the box.
The frame was put back on

00:13:59.083 --> 00:14:03.750
and it became the exhibition
called Picasso Legacy.

00:14:03.792 --> 00:14:06.708
The Guernica exhibition
was inaugurated

00:14:07.083 --> 00:14:10.999
in October, 1981, coinciding with

00:14:11.417 --> 00:14:14.917
the commemoration of
the artist's centennial.

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.000
Guernica at the Casón del Buen Retiro, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez

00:14:19.708 --> 00:14:20.625
Well, the first time I saw it

00:14:20.667 --> 00:14:23.792
was at the Casón del Buen Retiro,
when I first arrived in Madrid.

00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000
Jorge García - Head of Restoration of the Reina Sofía Museum

00:14:23.833 --> 00:14:25.958
At first, there was
a lot of expectation.

00:14:25.999 --> 00:14:27.250
Of course there was.

00:14:27.375 --> 00:14:31.625
You have this work here that
wasn't clear if it was ever going to arrive or not,

00:14:32.167 --> 00:14:35.542
and that year,
although there were long queues, I managed

00:14:35.583 --> 00:14:39.375
to go inside the Casón del Buen Retiro
and see it, there, inside that urn

00:14:39.417 --> 00:14:43.292
flanked by the Guardia Civil
and the flags and everything.

00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.000
Guernica at the Casón del Buen Retiro, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez

00:14:50.792 --> 00:14:54.042
There was another photograph
that I was able to take

00:14:54.208 --> 00:14:56.875
which was of the Guardia Civil

00:14:56.958 --> 00:15:00.083
guarding Guernica with a machine gun.

00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.000
Guernica at the Casón del Buen Retiro, 1981. Photograph by Marisa Flórez

00:15:02.125 --> 00:15:05.875
A shocking image because
it was the first time that

00:15:06.083 --> 00:15:10.208
the Guardia Civil guarded a painting

00:15:10.250 --> 00:15:13.125
inside of a museum in Spain.

00:15:27.417 --> 00:15:29.500
Guernica

00:15:29.542 --> 00:15:33.042
was a painting
about the conscience of Francoism.

00:15:37.250 --> 00:15:40.292
The fact that Guernica is in Spain
is a way of reminding us

00:15:40.333 --> 00:15:45.167
of our own past, of always having
to pay attention

00:15:45.208 --> 00:15:49.500
to our history, to keep in mind
that we've lived through a civil war.

00:15:50.208 --> 00:15:53.208
And all the suffering
that civil war brought.

00:15:53.250 --> 00:15:56.500
Followed by a very long dictatorship.

00:15:59.458 --> 00:16:02.250
It seems to me that, because Guernica

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is a brilliant work done
by a brilliant man,

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it embodies the values

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of the people of Spain.

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But it also embodies the struggle
of the best of this people

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for the defense of democracy,
and freedom.

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And when we're talking about 'this people'
we're also talking about Europe.

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Because, we must not forget
that what Spain went through

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was precisely the prelude to a war

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that affected practically the entire

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European territory.

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Guernica is there, reminding us

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of all those events in our history,
and reminding us

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that we have to fight
so that none of that ever happens again.

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I believe that, right now,

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Guernica continues to be
the best testimony of what

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Severiano Hernández - Deputy Director General of the State Archives

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the struggle for the values
of democracy is,

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the struggle for freedom and, above all,
the fight to crush fascism.