Mère et enfants (Mother and Children)

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PABLO PICASSO

Spanish, 1881 – 1973

Mère et enfants (Mother and Children), 1953

Etchings on Arches paper

© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Purchase, Jean Outland Chrysler Memorial Fund, Lucille Godfrey and Alexander M. Quattlebaum Endowment Fund, and the Enid W. and Bernard B. Spigel Endowment Fund

2000.014 and 2000.015

Pablo Picasso, born in Málaga, Spain, 1881, was a hugely prolific and highly influential artist who worked in numerous styles throughout his life. Best known as one of the founders of Cubism, Picasso’s works are instantly recognizable. In Mère et enfants, Picasso depicts a tender scene in which his partner at the time, Françoise Gilot, plays with their two children, Claude and Paloma. Ironically, given Picasso’s manipulative and misogynist tendencies, the scene Picasso depicts here was unattainable for his family in real life. In comparing the two states of Mère et enfants, one can physically see the process of his art making. The first state depicts simple line figures while the second state shows greater detail and stronger lines. Both states covey the affectionate relationship between mother and children, and brother and sister.

Isabel Williams ‘22

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