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Mother and Child, 1901 by Pablo Picasso. The religious connotations of any picture involving a mother and child are inevitable and this iconic statement is one of a series of 'Madonnas' painted during the Blue Period.
This work was painted during what is commonly known as Picasso's 'Blue Period'. The artist was greatly affected by the suicide of a close friend in 1901, and subsequently produced a series of paintings in melancholy blue tones.
Between 1921 and 1923 he produced at least twelve works on the subject of mothers and children, returning to a theme that he had explored during his Blue Period. But whereas those figures are frail and anguished, his classical-period figures, with their sculptural modeling and solidity, are majestic in proportion and feeling.
This is the largest of this group of works dating from the artist’s “Blue Period” (1901–4); they unite contemporary social concerns with an iconic Christian theme. The mother’s attenuated limbs speak to Picasso’s close study of the work of earlier artists, particularly El Greco.
The Blue Period ( Spanish: Período Azul) comprises the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1901 and 1904. During this time, Picasso painted essentially monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors.
Title: Mother and Child by a Fountain. Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France) Date: 1901. Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 16 1/8 × 12 7/8 in. (41 × 32.7 cm) Classification: Paintings. Credit Line: Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982. Accession Number: 1984.433.23.
