In 1939 Guernica was exhibited at The Whitechapel Gallery at the request of The Stepney Trade Union Council in order to raise awareness of the atrocities being committed during the Spanish Civil War. Entry was free however, Picasso suggested people may consider donating ‘ a pair of boots, in a fit state to be sent to the Spanish Front’ destined for the refugees displaced by the war and the volunteers of the International Brigade.

Four hundred pairs of boots mounted up under the mural over the two week exhibition period and it is a powerful example of how art can not only offer ‘hope’ in a time of crises but something ‘practicable’ too.