Art in wartime: An exhibit in Brussels explores the Thirty Years’ War

The Thirty Years’ War, from 1618 to 1648, was one of the most devastating events in European history. Violence, famine and disease killed one-third of the population in central Europe. Still, there was art — created, looted and traded. Art played a role in the war effort itself and in our understanding of the period.

Art and conflict are explicitly linked. It can serve as propaganda or draw attention to the brutality of war: Think Francisco de Goya’s visual protest series, Disasters of War (1810 to 1820), or Pablo Picasso’s iconic Guernica — a response to the April 1937 bombing of the Spanish town. 

Read more: https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/art-in-wartime-a-new-exhibition-explores-the-thirty-years-war-through-the-lens-of-art