It was 1937. Spain, Pablo Picasso’s home country was suffering from a civil war while he was living in France. 
On April 26th, the Spanish government in cooperation with the Italian and German forces sent planes to bombard a small village in northern Spain called Guernica. 
At the time of the attack, the town had a population of about 5,000. 
There were, however, a much larger number of people in the town on the day of the attack; there were undoubtedly numerous war refugees present in the town, and the day of the attack was a Monday (a market day then as now), 
so there would also have been many people from the surrounding areas. 
The attacks destroyed nearly the entire town. Three quarters of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed, and most others were damaged. Guernica burned for three days. 
There are no generally accepted official figures as to the number of casualties. 
The government of the time gave 1,600 as the minimum number of dead. 
The victims appear to have been mostly the elderly, women and children. 
The extent of the damage, death and destruction in Guernica was first revealed the next day - April 27, 1937 - by George Steer, a reporter for ‘The Times’, covering the Spanish Civil War. 
By May 1st, news of the massacre at Guernica reached Paris. 
Eyewitness reports filled the front pages of Paris papers. 
The bombardment of Guernica rapidly became a world-renowned symbol of the horrors of war. 
It shocked the world and outraged Picasso, who was stunned by the black and white photographs. 
He rushed to his studio, where he quickly sketched the first images for the mural he called Guernica. 
The display of this painting at the Spanish Pavilion during the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris reflected the symbolic significance of the event.