[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MuseoReinaSofia-Guernica.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Basque regional government has formally asked Spain\u2019s Ministry of Culture to authorize a temporary loan of Pablo Picasso\u2018s Guernica<\/em> to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, according to Ara<\/em>, a Catalan-language newspaper. If the move is approved, it would mark the first time the painting has traveled since it was installed at Madrid\u2019s Museo Reina Sof\u00eda in 1992.<\/p>\n \n\tThe proposed transfer would take place between October 2026 and June 2027, coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica, the Basque city whose destruction by Nazi and Italian Fascist air forces on April 26, 1937, inspired Picasso to paint the antiwar canvas.<\/p>\n \n\tImanol Pradales, the lehendakari<\/em>, or head of government, for Basque Country in northern Spain, said the proposed loan would be \u201ca formula for symbolic reparation and historical memory\u201d for the Basque people, as well as a \u201cmessage to the world\u201d about \u201cwhat war entails and the atrocity that derives from dictatorship,\u201d per Ara<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s far from the first transfer request from the Basque government for Guernica. The government has done so several times over the years for other anniversaries, as well as the the opening of the Guggenheim Bilbao in 1997. Barcelona also requested a transfer in 1992. None have been successful so far.<\/p>\n \n\tPainted in Paris over the course of 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\u2019s Fair before touring Europe and the US. It was brought to the Museum of Modern Art in 1939, with Picasso stipulating that it should not return to Spain until democracy was restored. With the Franco dictatorship ending in 1975, MoMA transferred the painting to Spain in 1981, first to the Prado and then, in 1992, to the Reina Sof\u00eda. It has remained there ever since.<\/p>\n \n\tIf the Reina Sof\u00eda has its way, it will stay that way. The museum released a conversation report last week in which it \u201cstrongly discouraged\u201d any transfer, saying that it is too fragile to travel. The Basque government, for its part, has proposed a joint commission to evaluate the viability and costs of a move.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile it would normally seem an open-and-shut-case, the current Guernica<\/em> request could go forward due to the particular political situation in Spain right now. According to the Times of London<\/em>, Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u00a0is the head of a minority coalition government reliant on two Basque nationalist parties, both of whom have raised the Guernica <\/em>issue. Pradales went so far as to warn S\u00e1nchez that denying the request would be \u201ca grave political error.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tS\u00e1nchez\u00a0has yet to render a final decision, and Pradales said that he is expecting to continue discussions with the Ministry of Culture after the Easter holiday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/picasso-guernica-madrid-loan-guggenheim-bilbao-1234779405\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/MuseoReinaSofia-Guernica.jpg?w=1024″] The Basque regional government has formally asked Spain\u2019s Ministry of Culture to authorize a temporary loan of Pablo Picasso\u2018s Guernica to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, according to Ara, a Catalan-language newspaper. If the move is approved, it would mark the first time the painting has traveled since it was installed at Madrid\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1856494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1856494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1856494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1856494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1856494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1856494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}