Lot Essay
Picasso most likely painted Mre et enfant aux fleurs in May 1901 in preparation for his first major Parisian exhibition at Ambroise Vollard's gallery. The exhibition was a major turning point in the artist's career. Picasso's friend, Pedro Maach, whose portrait now hangs in the National Gallery of Art (fig. 1), was the organizer of the show along with Vollard. Picasso had returned from Barcelona to Paris in early May and had to work at a furious pace in preparation for the show. John Richardson writes:
Although he had brought some fifteen or twenty-five paintings and a quantity of drawings and pastels with him from Spain, Picasso still had nothing like enough for the show. This was due to open on June 24, just over a month after he arrived in Paris, so he had to work fast. Gustave Coquiot, who wrote the preface to the catalogue, claimed that he painted at the rate of ten pictures a day, which is nonsense. The more reliable Flicen Fagus, writing at the time of the show, thought three pictures a day--a figure confirmed by the artist, who said that "this was probably true of certain days." He was not exaggerating. When the exhibition opened, it included at least sixty-four paintings, pastels and watercolors and an unknown number of drawings. Since the gallery was small . . . these were hung floor to ceiling. Haste is reflected in the execution, which is on the whole wonderfully vigorous, if a bit slapdash" (J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, New York, 1991, vol. I, pp. 193-194).
The exhibition was a great success, both commercially and critically. Maach and Vollard managed to sell some of the paintings even before the show opened, and made many sales during the exhibition. Critics wrote favorably of the strength of Picasso's color and drawing, and predicted a great future for the artist. Picasso told a friend, "My exhibition in Paris has been fairly successful; almost all the newspapers have given it quite favorable reviews, which is something" (quoted in Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 258).
Indeed, one critic, Pre Coll, wrote, "Picasso is very young (19) and there can be few of his age who have done so much . . . Anyone who can do the drawings and paintings we have seen is capable of a great deal" (quoted in Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 514). The review by Flicen Fagus in Revue Blanche was especially prescient. He wrote:
All these [Spanish] artists . . . follow their great ancestors . . . particularly Goya, the bitter, mournful genius. His influence is seen in Picasso, the brilliant newcomer. He is the painter, utterly and beautifully the painter; he has the power of divining the essence of things . . . Like all pure painters he adores color for it own sake . . . he is enamoured of all subjects, and every subject is his . . . Besides the great ancestral masters, many likely influences can be distinguished--Delacroix, Manet (everything points to him, whose painting is a little Spanish), Monet, van Gogh, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Forain, Rops . . . Each one a passing phase, taking flight as soon as caught . . . Picasso's passionate surge forward has not yet left him the leisure to forge a personal style; his personality is embodied in this hastiness, this youthful impetuous spontaneity . . . The danger lies in this very impetuosity, which could easily lead to facile virtuosity and easy success . . . That would be profoundly regrettable since we are in the presence of such brilliant virility (quoted in Richardson, op. cit., p. 199).
One common feature of the pictures Picasso made for the show is the power of the coloring. Palau i Fabre has commented:
If there was one predominant tendency in this whole heterogeneous ensemble, it was one that we quite frankly describe as fauve. As we have already seen, this fauvisme avant la lettre in Picasso's work may have had its origins in the work of Joaquim Mir. But it is also possible that the works done in Paris at this time were influenced by that great fauve, van Gogh, an exhibition of whose work took place in Paris that same year (Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 258).
The palette of Mre et enfant aux fleurs exhibits an unbridled impetuosity, especially in the intense red of the child's dress and vivid yellow of the flowers.
Another feature shared by many of the pictures in the show was an emphasis on the life of women. Picasso painted all kinds of women for the exhibition; he concentrated on women from the demi-monde--prostitutes, drug-addicts, and the like--but he also made more idealized pictures of women who appear to be from the middle and upper classes (fig. 2). Additionally, he included in the show several paintings of children (fig. 3). Picasso at this time also made a number of floral still-lifes, one of which conceivably shows the same vase of flowers that is depicted in the present painting (fig. 4). Mre et enfant aux fleurs is the only picture in which he unites all these themes.
Both Daix and Palau i Fabre believe that the present work probably corresponds with either item no. 8, La Mre, or item no. 64, La mre et l'enfant in the Vollard exhibition catalogue.
(fig. 1) Pablo Picasso, Pedro Maach, 1901.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
(fig. 2) Pablo Picasso, Woman with a cape (Jeanne), 1901.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999, Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
(fig. 3) Pablo Picasso, Les blonds chevelures, 1901.
Private Collection.
(fig. 4) Pablo Picasso, Iris jaunes, 1901.
Sold, Christie's, London, 25 June 1996, lot 7.
Although he had brought some fifteen or twenty-five paintings and a quantity of drawings and pastels with him from Spain, Picasso still had nothing like enough for the show. This was due to open on June 24, just over a month after he arrived in Paris, so he had to work fast. Gustave Coquiot, who wrote the preface to the catalogue, claimed that he painted at the rate of ten pictures a day, which is nonsense. The more reliable Flicen Fagus, writing at the time of the show, thought three pictures a day--a figure confirmed by the artist, who said that "this was probably true of certain days." He was not exaggerating. When the exhibition opened, it included at least sixty-four paintings, pastels and watercolors and an unknown number of drawings. Since the gallery was small . . . these were hung floor to ceiling. Haste is reflected in the execution, which is on the whole wonderfully vigorous, if a bit slapdash" (J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, New York, 1991, vol. I, pp. 193-194).
The exhibition was a great success, both commercially and critically. Maach and Vollard managed to sell some of the paintings even before the show opened, and made many sales during the exhibition. Critics wrote favorably of the strength of Picasso's color and drawing, and predicted a great future for the artist. Picasso told a friend, "My exhibition in Paris has been fairly successful; almost all the newspapers have given it quite favorable reviews, which is something" (quoted in Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 258).
Indeed, one critic, Pre Coll, wrote, "Picasso is very young (19) and there can be few of his age who have done so much . . . Anyone who can do the drawings and paintings we have seen is capable of a great deal" (quoted in Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 514). The review by Flicen Fagus in Revue Blanche was especially prescient. He wrote:
All these [Spanish] artists . . . follow their great ancestors . . . particularly Goya, the bitter, mournful genius. His influence is seen in Picasso, the brilliant newcomer. He is the painter, utterly and beautifully the painter; he has the power of divining the essence of things . . . Like all pure painters he adores color for it own sake . . . he is enamoured of all subjects, and every subject is his . . . Besides the great ancestral masters, many likely influences can be distinguished--Delacroix, Manet (everything points to him, whose painting is a little Spanish), Monet, van Gogh, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Forain, Rops . . . Each one a passing phase, taking flight as soon as caught . . . Picasso's passionate surge forward has not yet left him the leisure to forge a personal style; his personality is embodied in this hastiness, this youthful impetuous spontaneity . . . The danger lies in this very impetuosity, which could easily lead to facile virtuosity and easy success . . . That would be profoundly regrettable since we are in the presence of such brilliant virility (quoted in Richardson, op. cit., p. 199).
One common feature of the pictures Picasso made for the show is the power of the coloring. Palau i Fabre has commented:
If there was one predominant tendency in this whole heterogeneous ensemble, it was one that we quite frankly describe as fauve. As we have already seen, this fauvisme avant la lettre in Picasso's work may have had its origins in the work of Joaquim Mir. But it is also possible that the works done in Paris at this time were influenced by that great fauve, van Gogh, an exhibition of whose work took place in Paris that same year (Palau i Fabre, op. cit., p. 258).
The palette of Mre et enfant aux fleurs exhibits an unbridled impetuosity, especially in the intense red of the child's dress and vivid yellow of the flowers.
Another feature shared by many of the pictures in the show was an emphasis on the life of women. Picasso painted all kinds of women for the exhibition; he concentrated on women from the demi-monde--prostitutes, drug-addicts, and the like--but he also made more idealized pictures of women who appear to be from the middle and upper classes (fig. 2). Additionally, he included in the show several paintings of children (fig. 3). Picasso at this time also made a number of floral still-lifes, one of which conceivably shows the same vase of flowers that is depicted in the present painting (fig. 4). Mre et enfant aux fleurs is the only picture in which he unites all these themes.
Both Daix and Palau i Fabre believe that the present work probably corresponds with either item no. 8, La Mre, or item no. 64, La mre et l'enfant in the Vollard exhibition catalogue.
(fig. 1) Pablo Picasso, Pedro Maach, 1901.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
(fig. 2) Pablo Picasso, Woman with a cape (Jeanne), 1901.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999, Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
(fig. 3) Pablo Picasso, Les blonds chevelures, 1901.
Private Collection.
(fig. 4) Pablo Picasso, Iris jaunes, 1901.
Sold, Christie's, London, 25 June 1996, lot 7.