Moments before being shot by a Bolivian government soldier, revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara said to his executioner: “Shoot, coward! You’re only going to kill a man! Guevara died soon after, on October 9, 1967 at the age of 39, but he was correct in saying that this would not be the end of his legacy. Today, this legacy almost always takes the form of a single photograph, Guerrillero Heroico, which some have called the most famous photograph in the world.
This photo was taken on March 5, 1960, seven years before Guevara’s death, during a burial of workers killed in an explosion in a Cuban port that the revolutionary government of Fidel Castro blamed on the Americans. Guevara, a general of the revolution and the intellectual heavyweight of the Castro regime, watched Castro deliver his fiery funeral oration. For about thirty seconds, he stood in front of a crowd near Castro’s stand, in the sight of press photographer Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, also known as Alberto Korda. Korda took two shots of Guevara, his resolute face and long hair flowing under his signature beret, before Guevara retreated into the crowd. Perhaps due to her background as a fashion photographer, Korda took a liking to one of the images and cropped it into a portrait, although the newspaper La Revolución refused to use it.
For several years, the now iconic photo was nothing more than a personal favorite of the man who took it. Korda named the photo Guerrillero Heroico –“Heroic Guerrilla Warrior” – and hung it on his wall, occasionally handing out copies to guests. It was not until 1967 that the public first saw the image, which appeared in the magazine Paris match next to an article on Latin American guerrilla movements.
Guevara was killed in October of the same year, captured while fighting with the Bolivian revolutionaries. During his memorial service in Havana, a huge impression of Guerrillero Heroico hung above the facade of the Interior Ministry. The service marked the canonization of Che as a martyr of the world revolution, as well as the rise of Korda’s image as an icon of the rebellion.
The following year, Guevara’s image went viral. It appeared on the cover of a copy of Guevara’s memoirs, published in Italy. It was also used as the cover of a literary newspaper advertised on the New York subway. That same year, Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick created a stylized version of the image, placing a black and white Guevara on a red background, and released it as widely as possible to honor Guevara’s legacy. A poster featuring Fitzpatrick was displayed at the Arts Laboratory in London. 1968 was a year of upheaval across the world, and Guevara’s image featured prominently in the student riots that swept across France in May, populist “hot autumn” protests in Italy, and protests. non-violent and surrealist Dutch “Provos”.
Besides being held aloft during protests or hung in the homes of his admirers, Guevara’s image has become popular as a fashion statement, adorning t-shirts and posters wherever the counter-culture is. revered. Rage Against the Machine used a modified version of the image as the cover of their 1993 single “Bombtrack”, and Madonna referenced it on the cover of her 2003 album. American life. Korda was successful in preventing Smirnoff Vodka from using her photo in one of her campaigns, but she appeared in countless other ads, including Nike ads and a Taco Bell campaign that featured a Chihuahua in revolutionary costume.
