Mère et enfant [Mother and Child] by Pablo Picasso postcard

Single A6 postcard (14.8 x 10.5 cm) featuring artwork Mère et enfant [Mother and Child] by Pablo Picasso, part of the National Galleries of Scotland collection.

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.

The painting was also influenced by Picasso's regular visits to a women's prison-hospital in Paris. The misery of those women, many of whom had babies or young children, seems to have struck a chord with the artist.

The pose of the figure in this painting, with her face turned away from the viewer, suggests her suffering and shame. This was the first painting by Picasso to enter the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France.

Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore.

Image © Succession Picasso. DACS, London 2022