ISTANBUL

Spain’s Basque regional government has requested the transfer of Guernica, a 1937 anti-war painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, from the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for a planned anniversary exhibition in 2026-2027.

Conservation authorities, however, have warned that the fragile artwork may be unsafe to transport if the request is approved.

The Basque government formally asked Spain’s Culture Ministry to authorize a temporary loan of the painting between October 2026 and June 2027, according to Catalan-language newspaper Ara. The proposed exhibition would coincide with the 90th anniversary of the April 26, 1937 bombing of Guernica, a Basque city destroyed by Nazi German and Italian Fascist air forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Imanol Pradales, Lehendakari of the Basque Country in northern Spain, described the proposed loan as "a formula for symbolic reparation and historical memory" for the Basque people. He also said the transfer would serve as a "message to the world" about "what war entails and the atrocity that derives from dictatorship," according to Ara.

The Basque government has previously requested the transfer several times, including during the opening of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997 and for other commemorative anniversaries. Barcelona also sought to host the painting in 1992, but none of those requests were approved.

Painted in Paris in 1937 over five to six weeks, the large-scale canvas debuted at the 1937 World’s Fair before touring Europe and the US.

The painting was transferred to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1939, with Pablo Picasso stipulating that it should return to Spain only after democracy was restored. Following the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in 1975, the artwork returned to Spain in 1981, first displayed at the Prado Museum in Madrid before moving to Museo Reina Sofia in 1992.

Museo Reina Sofia recently issued a conservation report that "strongly discouraged" any transfer, citing the painting’s fragility. In response, the Basque government proposed forming a joint commission to assess feasibility and costs.

The request has gained political significance amid Spain’s current coalition dynamics. According to British daily The Times, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leads a minority government supported by two Basque nationalist parties that raised the issue. Pradales warned that rejecting the request would be "a grave political error."

Sanchez has not made a final decision, and discussions with Spain’s Culture Ministry are expected to continue after the Easter holiday.