Pablo
Picasso's Guernica, was created as a centerpiece for the Spanish
Pavilion of the 1937 World's Fair in Paris.
On April 27th, 1937, a small village in northern
Spain - Guernica - was turned to burning rubble. The Hitler war-machine
attack, undertaken on Franco's behalf, had two purposes: 1) to destroy
Basque resistance to Nationalist forces within that country, and 2)
to demonstrate a new Nazi tactic: the demoralization of civilian populations
via blanket-bombardment. Sixteen hundred civilians were killed or wounded
in the three hour attack.
On February 6, 2003, US Secretary
of State Colin Powell delivered a speech
before the UN Security Council
in which "proof" was offered of the existence of Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction and that those [fictitious] weapons justified war.
Guernica hangs as a backdrop behind a podium
where Security Council members traditionally speak before TV cameras.
Because it was decided the violent antiwar images would conflict with
talk of a new war, the painting was concealed by a large blue drape.
"It's only temporary. We're only doing this until the (TV) cameras
leave," said Abdellatif Kabbaj, the chief UN media officer.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0209-04.htm
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The fully constructed background image displayed
is primarily Guernica - cropped, colorized, and contrast enhanced. Note
what appears to be a classic satanic image and a wailing woman holding
a limp infant in her arms on the left side. This enhanced image is then
superimposed on the Abell 2218 galactic cluster and set as a "fixed"
background. The composite image is intended to display the agony created
by a few distorted and ill minds, set within a universe of unspeakable
grandeur.