The Dream and Lie of Franco II

Pablo Picasso, 1937

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Created in 1937 by Pablo Picasso, The Dream and Lie of Franco II is a powerful etching and sugar-lift aquatint print measuring 31.6 by 42.1 centimeters for the plate, housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The composition is structured as a narrative sequence divided into distinct grid-like panels that satirize and condemn the nationalist regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Rendered in a biting Surrealist and expressionist idiom, the imagery features grotesque, monstrous transformations of the dictator. In the upper registers, Franco is portrayed as a repulsive, grinning creature disembowelling his own horse, followed by harrowing depictions of warfare, destruction, and desperate civilian suffering. Later panels introduce dramatic confrontations between the tyrant and a raging bull, symbolizing the indomitable spirit of Spain. Picasso’s masterful draftsmanship combines stark linear contours with deep tonal aquatint shading, creating an intensely visceral visual polemic. The work merges nightmarish surrealist iconography with searing political commentary, capturing the horror and tragedy of the Spanish Civil War.

Initiated on January 8, 1937, The Dream and Lie of Franco II was conceived directly in response to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and commissioned by the Spanish Republican Government. Picasso produced this print alongside its companion plate as an active political weapon, intending to sell reproductions as postcards to raise funds for the republican cause. The historical urgency of the project escalated dramatically following the devastating bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by fascist allied aircraft on April 26, 1937. In response, Picasso added four final scenes to the plate on June 7, 1937, which directly informed his monumental mural Guernica. Published with printer Roger Lacourière in Paris, the prints reflect Picasso’s fierce anti-fascist commitment and his role as an official artistic representative of the Spanish Republic. Acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1986 as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. E. Powis Jones, this etching stands as a landmark document of political art, merging modernist experimentation with direct moral outrage against tyranny.

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