When the Basque regional government made a formal request last week to Spain‘s Ministry of Culture to authorize a temporary loan of Pablo Picasso‘s Guernica (1937), the region’s head of government, Lehendakari Imanol Pradales, said he expected more robust discussion on the issue after Easter Sunday.
According to El País, that discussion came on Tuesday—and the culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, was unequivocal. During a government oversight session in Spain’s Senate, Urtasun told senator Igotz López, of the Basque National Party, that he would not approve the transfer request.
“I understand the sensitivity behind this request,” Urtasun said. “We are talking about a work linked to the memory of Gernika and the pain it symbolizes. My obligation is to guarantee access to culture and also to safeguard our heritage. In matters like this, we must listen to the experts who have been preserving the work for 30 years. Their reports are clear and advise against moving the piece due to the risks involved. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of Gernika should also mean ensuring that this work can last another 90 years. My obligation is to preserve this heritage.”
López was not taking Urtasun’s answer as the final word. He reiterated that the Basque government is already familiar with the Reina Sofía’s condition report—which deems the painting too fragile to travel—and that it is instead requesting a feasibility report from independent technicians on how a transfer to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao could be carried out safely. He also challenged Urtasun’s assertion that the Reina Sofía could not survive without the painting.
“If their survival depends on exhibiting Guernica, they have a problem. The Reina Sofía could be valued for more than just Guernica,” López said.
The Basque government has continued to say that it is awaiting a “formal response” from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, apparently declining to treat Urtasun’s Senate remarks as such.
Also on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the government of Catalonia—like Basque Country, an autonomous region of Spain—endorsed the transfer, calling it “not only culturally sound but a democratic duty.”
The Basque government’s request for Guernica is far from its first. The government has made similar appeals several times over the years, including for the opening of the Guggenheim Bilbao in 1997. Barcelona also requested a transfer in 1992. None have been successful.
Painted in Paris over five or six weeks, the monumental canvas measures 11 feet 5 inches by 25 feet 6 inches. It was first shown at the 1937 World’s Fair before touring Europe and the United States. In 1939, it was on long-term view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with Picasso stipulating that it should not return to Spain until democracy was restored. After the Franco dictatorship ended in 1975, MoMA transferred the painting to Spain in 1981. It first went to the Prado and then, in 1992, to the newly oepned Reina Sofía, where it has remained ever since.
