Spain’s most famous protest painting is now at the center of a political standoff of its own. Smithsonian magazine’s Ryley Graham reports, in part via El Pais, that Basque leaders want Pablo Picasso’s Guernica temporarily sent from Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum—its home since 1992—to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for events marking the 90th anniversary of the 1937 bombing that inspired it. Graham notes the Guggenheim sits a short distance from the town of Guernica, and Artnet reports the proposed exhibition would begin Oct. 1 and run through June 30, 2027.
The Basque government says it will pay all costs and set up a special technical team to oversee the move—with Basque government leader Imanol Pradales arguing last month that it’s a “serious political mistake” to shut down the idea. Madrid has thus far said no. Spanish culture minister Ernest Urtasun rejected the loan request on April 7, citing a fresh conservation report from the Reina Sofía warning that any new transport could worsen cracks and paint loss in the 25.5-foot-long canvas, which has endured more than 30 past moves. “Celebrating the 90th anniversary of Guernica should also mean ensuring that this work can last another 90 years,” Urtasun said.
Basque officials pushed back on the report, which they say wasn’t what they asked for: “We didn’t request a report on the painting’s state of conservation—we already know its condition—but rather a report analyzing the conditions under which it would be possible to move it and temporarily relocate it to the Basque Country.” Artnet notes the Basque government has made numerous loan requests dating to the 1990s; the artwork has not left Madrid since 1981. A 2000 request by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which the Art Newspaper reports had Guernica from 1957 to 1981, was also denied.