Motherhood (La Maternité)
- Artist: Pablo Picasso
- Date: 1901
- Medium: Oil on fibre board
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "Motherhood (La Maternité)" by Pablo Picasso, a pivotal work from 1901. You can see the mother's weariness beautifully contrasted with the child's serene expression. Behind them, a vibrant landscape unfolds, featuring rolling fields and a sheet of intense blue water in the distance.
Notice how the upper sky is rapidly brushed in, leaving it unfinished. This style was likely influenced by Picasso's visit to Toledo earlier that year, where he encountered the work of El Greco. The mother's elongated hands also reflect this influence, echoing the Renaissance depictions of Virgin and Child.
The model for this painting has been identified as Germaine Florentin, a mistress of Picasso's friend Carles Casagemas. Her presence here adds an interesting layer to the work's narrative. In 1957, when this piece was sold at auction in New York, it was initially thought to have been painted in 1903, but Picasso himself corrected that date, confirming its creation two years earlier.
See it in person
Motherhood (La Maternité) hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
