Can art be your act of resistance?

Art gives us access. It gives us the courage to challenge the things we fear but can’t face alone. Art captures what we feel when words fail us.

“Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” – Pablo Picasso

In the year 1937, two separate but deeply connected art world events made a lasting mark on history: Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, and Nazi Germany staged the infamous Degenerate Art exhibit. Both were fueled by the mounting tension between authoritarian fascism and art’s power to speak truth.

Guernica, with its stark, haunting images of pain and loss, was Picasso’s response to the indiscriminate bombing of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. He didn’t try to sugarcoat the atrocities with beautiful colors or classic imagery. Instead, he held up a mirror to the brutality that senseless violence inflicts. Guernica became more than a painting, it was a plea for empathy and a testament to art’s power to bear witness to the suffering of others.

During the same year, the Nazis launched the Degenerate Art exhibit with the intention of dismissing and belittling abstract, and non-conformist modernists like Kandinsky, Chagall, and Picasso, labeling them as “un-German” and “immoral.”

The Nazis chose these works for ridicule because they feared them. Art capable of expressing multiple points of view and challenging the viewer to both ask questions and then have to answer those questions for themselves, would erode the spoon-fed singularity and precious dogma they depended on to maintain their power.

Guernica – Pablo Picasso

The exhibition itself was propaganda, a calculated attempt to delegitimize any art that promoted individualism, experimentation, or criticism. With mock captions and chaotically arranged displays, it invited the public to laugh at or condemn the art and, by extension, the ideals it represented. But many who saw the exhibition didn’t laugh. They found a different kind of power in the work. And it gave them courage.

When the world feels dark, and freedoms seem fragile, art remains a sanctuary. A space where vulnerability, empathy, and independent thought flourish. As artists, we have a duty to keep creating, to make work that reflects our authenticity. Art doesn’t just provide hope, it’s an imprint of your truth, even when that truth is uncomfortable.

Don’t be afraid to create and collect pieces that capture both our struggles and our hopes. Even in darkness, art holds the power to reflect, challenge, and, inspire. Use it.

Can art be your act of resistance?