ole. The dove, the horse thebull permit us to view ourselves in different aspects” (Becraft 30). The animalfigures, in fact, illustrate characteristics of humanity such a dependency, strengthand weakness.Picasso, himself, said, “The horse represents the people” (Russell 43). Oneof the few explanations about the symbolism of the figures in Guernica, Picassooffered a statement about an ambiguous figure. The horse, while strong andsturdy, has a mortal wound from a spear in Picasso’s depiction, thus, lending anexplanation that the horse is suffering humanity. While individuals can withstandthe attacks for a period of time, the severity of an attack on human rights, like thebombing, is a mortal wound to all of humankind. Unlike the dying, still peoplearound him, he is one of the few active figures in the scene. He struggles againsthis wound by attempting to remain standing and he roars for help as indicated byhis thrown-back head and flared nostrils. The horse, while he seems to bemortally wounded, is attempting to make his lasting impression against his mostlikely fate. He is the people of Guernica, as their fate inspired a lasting oppositionthrough Picasso’s struggle to keep the town of Guernica alive in the mind ofhumanity. Picasso’s source of inspiration for the horse derives from his lifelonginterest in Spain greatest tradition, bullfighting, which is the reason for his choiceto incorporate the bull as well. This gives meaning to the role of the bull. Whilethe bull seems strong and fierce, his strength is limited to the power of thebullfighter, which has him crippled. As the relationship between bullfighter andbull is part of Spanish tradition, it is also the relationship between thegovernment and the people. The government can only be strong as long as thepeople allow for this strength. “The central symbol of the bull is one of theoldest in the art of the Mediterranean, going ba...
