Crippled Lady

A woman enters the scene from the right. She looks like she might be naked as she is felled by what she sees. She looks above, in the line of sight to the horse being killed. Her arms are outstretched and palms exposed. That's what we see. Now... what might this all mean?

Again, at first glance and with initial impression, this might be just the depiction of another hapless victim of the raid upon Guernica, and indeed it is in its most obvious and explicit point of view. There may have been literally hundreds of women who may have walked into their own horror show and would have been brought to her knees from the sights that all of them will have witnessed at one point or other.

Marie Therese

But there is much more to this character. This character is not anonymous, it's meant to be Marie Therese, Picasso's partner with whom he had a child at the time. 

The story goes that, Marie Therese lived in Antibe, in the South of France with their daughter. Picasso would work in Paris on his paintings and return to the country to join Marie Therese and their daughter for the weekend. Imagine Marie Therese's surprise when she surprised Picasso to turn up during the week to find him in his studio being assisted by his mistress painting small parts of this painting. The mistress was Dora Maar. Marie Therese walked into the studio with Picasso aloft the small step ladder to reach the top parts of the painting with Dora Maar helping below. (Dora Maar actually painted the horses fur). A minor mele followed. The women fought each other until Marie Therese asked Picasso to make his choice... To which he replied that they should 'fight it out'. 

If this story is true, then this just has to be the depiction of Marie Therese entering the studio to find Picasso up his ladder with his mistress ensconsed with him.

Might Marie Therese also have been brought to her knees, just as so many women might have done during the raid on Guernica? Her plight, though not life threatening, would have been similarly traumatic.

Might this be Picasso's homage to Marie Therese? An acknowledgement of the moment, that crtical point when she learnt the truth and her fears were finally realised.