Pastel sobre papel. 49,8 x 39 cm. Museu Picasso, Barcelona
© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2024.
This portrait of Maria Picasso is one of the emblematic paintings in the Museu Picasso in Barcelona. Painted by the artist in 1896, when he was only fifteen years old, it was executed at a singular moment in his life: it coincided with the period when he was leaving behind his childhood in Galicia, beginning his adolescence in Barcelona and beginning his studies at the Llotja school.
The work remained in the family home in Barcelona until 1970, when it was donated to the museum by Picasso, where it underwent a process of restoration.
Painting his mother was a matter of course for the young Picasso. In this case, he has achieved a benchmark portrait which, executed with vehemence and refined technique, stands out from the previous small-format sketches of Doña María. The painter's fluency in using a complex technique such as pastel is surprising. His choice of such an ambitious format, representing the model on a real scale, gives the painting an official character worthy of an acclaimed pastelist.
During his stay in Galicia, Picasso studied at the Provincial School of Fine Arts in La Coruña, where, under the tutelage of his father, a teacher at the school, he was initiated into academic practice, focusing on the principles of drawing. His first works were mainly portraits and he used the family environment as a source of inspiration, and his parents and sister, Lola, as models, as they were the most accessible figures at the time. In adolescence, when the boy already had access to other female models outside the home, the figure of the mother and sister practically disappeared from his work.
In 1895, when the Picasso family left Galicia, the young man already knew the principles of oil painting, but he also used other more complex procedures such as ink, pastel and watercolour with skill.
Who was María Picasso López?
María was a figure in Picasso's life who has always gone largely unnoticed. However, the reality is that the mark her mother left on the artist was key, since she always showed blind faith in her son's talent. The relationship between mother and son was excellent. We must not forget that Picasso ended up signing his works with his mother's surname, thus giving it fame all over the world.
María Picasso always looked like an Andalusian matron, a woman of character, but, as was the case with most of the women of that time, she was relegated to the domestic sphere. She was born into a family of Italian origin on her father's side; her grandfather had emigrated from Genoa at the beginning of the 19th century. Maria, grew up with a single mother with four daughters and an absent father, and without much money.
References:
Museu Picasso Barcelona. Collection notebooks. http://www.bcn.cat/museupicasso/es/coleccion/cuadernos/la-madre-de-picasso/index_es.html
The Museu Picasso Blog. https://www.blogmuseupicassobcn.org/2020/04/maria-picasso-la-madre-de-picasso/?lang=es