Mural para fábrica socialista (Mural for a Socialist Factory)

Mural para fábrica socialista (Mural for a Socialist Factory) is a work by the Colombian artist Beatriz González, in which she creates her own version of Picasso’s Guernica. The artist was fascinated by the possibility of confronting this great master and reactivating his legacy through new interpretations.

According to the artist: “In 1977, before traveling to Cuba, I saw a lattice-like material covering a ceiling in an apartment, and at that moment the idea came to me to paint Picasso’s Guernica. […] Later, when I traveled to Cuba, I mentioned that I wanted to paint Guernica, and they asked me, ‘What do you plan to call it?’ We had visited several socialist factories, so I replied Mural para fábrica socialista. At that moment, I had both the material and the title. Then I traveled to my hometown of Bucaramanga, where I found a mural painted on the wall of a house in an upper-class neighborhood. When I saw that mural, I realized those were the colors I wanted for my Guernica.”

Parallel to its creation, Beatriz González wrote the Diario de Guernica – Diario de una obra sin sentido – Mural para fábrica socialista between March and December 1981. In addition to revealing her research surrounding the work and conveying her technical understanding of it, the diary also uncovers the artist’s process of thought and inquiry.