This study examines the relationship between collective memory and painting through the lens of political imagery. The theoretical framework is grounded in the concept of collective memory developed by Maurice Halbwachs, the theory of cultural memory proposed by Jan Assmann, the notion of “sites of memory” articulated by Pierre Nora, and the critical reflections on history and image formulated by Walter Benjamin. Within this framework, painting is approached not merely as an aesthetic practice but as a visual medium that actively participates in the construction and transformation of collective identity.

The article discusses art policies and the formation of national identity in the context of Republican Turkish painting, while also analyzing the tension between propaganda and critical modernism in twentieth-century war and protest imagery. Pablo Picasso’s Guernica and the political interventions of Banksy are examined as exemplary cases that demonstrate how the aesthetic representation of trauma shapes and reconfigures collective memory. Furthermore, the study addresses how art collections and auction culture reframe memory within systems of economic value.

In conclusion, the study argues that painting functions both as a carrier and a producer of collective memory, while political images not only represent the past but actively reconstruct it within contemporary cultural discourse.