Child with a Dove
Child with a Dove | |
---|---|
Artist | Pablo Picasso |
Year | 1901 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Movement | Blue Period |
Dimensions | 73 cm × 54 cm (29 in × 21 in) |
Location | Qatar Museums Authority |
Child with a Dove (French: L'enfant au pigeon), also described as Child Holding a Dove, Child with a Pigeon is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, which he created in 1901 at the start of his Blue Period. The painting is a depiction of a young girl in a white dress holding a white dove, and represents an important transitional moment in the artist’s career. It was on public display at the National Gallery in London, England for nearly four decades before its private sale in 2012, when it achieved a price of £50 million.
Background
Child with a Dove was painted in 1901, when Picasso was 20 years old, and was still struggling to make his mark at the start of his artistic career. Picasso first visited Paris from October to November 1900. He returned for a second spell in Paris in May 1901, to prepare for a joint exhibition in June 1901 with Francisco Iturrino at Ambroise Vollard's gallery, Galeries Vollard on rue Laffite. The exhibition was a success and Picasso's reputation as an artist began to spread. Towards the end of the year, Picasso moved away from the rapid impressionistic brushwork that had won him praise towards a flatter, abstracted presentation, with blocks of colour outlined in black, a style that is typical of his Blue Period.[1]
Description
Child with a Dove is an oil painting on canvas and measures 28.75 inches (73.0 cm) by 21.25 inches (54.0 cm). It is signed by Picasso on the centre left of the painting. It depicts a girl, with short ginger hair, wearing a white gown tied at the waist with a blue sash. The subject stands holding a white dove in both hands, beside a ball with brightly coloured segments like a colour wheel. The background is painted flatly, as an abstracted blue sky and green grass. The items in the scene, such as the girl's hair, the ball and the dove's feathers, are suggested by their shapes, yet display very little detail. The perspective is limited and implied only by the girl's arms and folds of her dress.
The work has been interpreted in several ways. It can be read as a picture of the innocence of childhood. It may be an experiment in abstraction, due to the simplified shapes and reduction of detail. It may also be regarded as a commentary or critique on colour theory, as it displays large blocks of colour; the girl's bright orange hair is set against a blue sky, and her white dress is set against green grass. With these elements, Picasso broke convention, perhaps as a way to challenge the older generation of established artists.[2]
Provenance
The painting was acquired by French art dealer Paul Rosenberg. It was bought in 1924 by a Mrs RA Workman from the Alexander Reid Gallery in Glasgow, but she sold it to Samuel Courtauld in 1928. On his death in 1947, he bequeathed it to Christabel McLaren, Lady Aberconway, wife of Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway. After the death of Lady Aberconway, the family loaned the painting to the National Gallery from 1974 to 2010, and it was also displayed at exhibitions at the Courtauld Gallery and the Tate Gallery.[3]
In 2012, the painting was sold in a private sale brokered by auction house Christie's on behalf of the Aberconway family. The price was reported as £50 million.[4] The government imposed a temporary export ban which expired in December 2012 because no British institution was able to match the purchase price to acquire the work. It was displayed at an exhibition of Picasso's works from 1901 at the Courtauld Gallery until May 2013, and was expected to be exported when the Courtauld exhibition closed in May 2013. In April 2013 it was reported by Le Figaro that the buyer was the Qatar Museums Authority.[4][5]
Significance and legacy
Child with a Dove is considered to be the earliest example of Picasso's Blue Period (1901), presenting a simplified style and coarse brushwork that is reminiscent of Van Gogh and Gauguin. The presence of the dove is particularly significant, as it represents peace and purity. It also had a personal significance for Picasso, who watched his father José Ruiz y Blasco paint doves when Picasso was a boy.[1]
The painting was described by Arts Council England as "probably the most famous work by Picasso in a UK collection".[6] An Expert adviser's statement for Arts Council said, "It is a work that enjoys great public affection, providing an engaging mixture of radical brushwork, bold stylisation and charmingly sentimental subject matter.".[1]
Lord Inglewood, chairman of the Arts Council-managed Reviewing Committee described the painting's departure from the UK as "a great shame" and said of the painting, "Child With A Dove is an iconic Picasso painting, and has a long history in British collections. It is one of Picasso's key early works, and marks a transitional moment in his career, the move into his much celebrated Blue Period".[4]
Jonathan Jones for The Guardian summarised the significance of the painting.[7]
In this painting, the artist who was to reveal his inner male violence in paintings of savage bullfights shows his sweet and loving side, a simple joy in life. Child with a Dove is however more revolutionary than it might seem. It has a primitive clarity no 19th-century artist was capable of. Building on the insights of Gauguin, this painting by the young Picasso – it dates from 1901, his 20th year – breaks out into a new visual language of complete boldness and human directness. The dove the child holds would of course become one of Picasso's personal additions to modern symbolism, the dove of peace he was to let fly during the Cold war.
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Case 3 (2012-13): A painting by Pablo Picasso, Child with a Dove" (PDF). Arts Council. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Woods, Robert (2006). Children Remembered: Responses to Untimely Death in the Past. Liverpool University Press. p. 86. ISBN 1846310210.
- ^ Kennedy, Maev (17 August 2012). "Picasso painting Child with a Dove barred from export". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ a b c "Picasso's £50 m Child With A Dove Set to Leave the UK". BBC News Online. April 14, 2013. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
- ^ Vincent, Alice (11 April 2013). "Picasso painting leaves for Qatar after 90 years in the UK". The Telegraph. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Clark, Nick (April 11, 2013). "Pablo Picasso's Child with a Dove to leave Britain after 90 years". The Independent. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
- ^ Jones, Jonathan (11 April 2013). "Why was Picasso's Child with a Dove allowed to leave the UK?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- v
- t
- e
- Le petit picador jaune (1889)
- Science and Charity (1897)
- Le Moulin de la Galette (1900)
- The Appointment (1901)
- Child with a Dove (1901)
- La Gommeuse (1901)
- Yo, Picasso (1901)
- Portrait of Jaime Sabartés (1901)
- The Blue Room (1901)
- Femme aux Bras Croisés (1901-02)
- Old Jewish Man with a Boy (1903)
- The Old Guitarist (1903)
- La Vie (1903)
- Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto (1903)
- Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904)
- The Actor (1904-1905)
- Woman Ironing (1904)
- Girl in a Chemise (c. 1905)
- Acrobat and Young Harlequin (1905)
- Family of Saltimbanques (1905)
- Garçon à la pipe (1905)
- Girl on a Ball (1905)
- Les Noces de Pierrette (1905)
- Au Lapin Agile (1905)
- Young Girl with a Flower Basket (1905)
- Famille d'acrobates avec singe (1905)
- Boy Leading a Horse (1905–06)
- Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905–06)
- Head of a Young Woman (1906)
- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
- Woman with a Fan (1908)
- Brick Factory at Tortosa (1909)
- Woman with a Fan (1909)
- Femme et pot de moutarde (1910)
- Girl with a Mandolin (1910)
- Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1910)
- Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910)
- The Accordionist (1911)
- Le pigeon aux petits pois (1911)
- La Coiffeuse (1911)
- Violon et Raisins (1912)
- Bottle, Glass, Fork (1912)
- Ma Jolie (1912)
- Arlequin (1913)
- Ma Jolie (1914)
- Three Musicians (1921)
- Reading the Letter (c. 1921)
- The Pipes of Pan (1923)
- The Three Dancers (1925)
- Woman in a Red Armchair (1929)
- Le Repos (1932)
- Girl before a Mirror (1932)
- La Lecture (1932)
- Le Rêve (1932)
- Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932)
- Nude in a Black Armchair (1932)
- Femme à la montre (1932)
- Two Girls Reading (1934)
- Jeune Fille Endormie (1935)
- Guernica (1937)
- Portrait of Dora Maar (1937)
- Woman in Hat and Fur Collar (1937)
- The Weeping Woman (1937)
- Girl with a Red Beret and Pompom (1937)
- Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) (1937)
- Maya with Doll (1938)
- Woman's Head (1939)
- Dora Maar au Chat (1941)
- The Charnel House (1944–1945)
- Nature morte au poron (1948)
- Massacre in Korea (1951)
- Les Femmes d'Alger series (1955)
- Las Meninas (1957)
- The Fall of Icarus (1958)
- Bust of a Seated Woman (Jacqueline Roque) (1960)
- Jacqueline (1961)
- Femme au Chien (1962)
- Bust of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse) (1931)
- Tête de femme (Dora Maar) (1941)
- Bull's Head (1942)
- Baboon and Young (1951)
- Figure découpée (1963, 1964, 1965)
- Chicago Picasso (1967)
- Sylvette (1970)
- Vollard Suite (1930–1937)
- Minotaur Kneeling over Sleeping Girl (1933)
- Minotauromachy (1935)
- The Dream and Lie of Franco (1937)
- 347 Series (1968)
- Girl from Majorca (1905)
- Don Quixote (1955)
- Toros y toreros (1961)
- Le Taureau (1945-1946)
- Dove (1949)
- Desire Caught by the Tail (c. 1941)
- The Four Little Girls (c. 1947–48)
- Picasso and the Ballets Russes
- Parade
- The Three-Cornered Hat
- Pulcinella
- Le Train Bleu
- Mercure
- Musée Picasso (Paris)
- Musée Picasso (Antibes)
- Museu Picasso (Barcelona)
- Museo Picasso Málaga (Malaga)
- Museo Casa Natal (Malaga)
- Château de Boisgeloup (Normandy)
- Olga Khokhlova (first wife)
- Jacqueline Roque (second wife)
- Maya Widmaier-Picasso (daughter)
- Claude Picasso (son)
- Paloma Picasso (daughter)
- Diana Widmaier Picasso (granddaughter)
- Marina Picasso (granddaughter)
- Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (grandson)
- José Ruiz y Blasco (father)
(France)
- Bateau-Lavoir (Montmartre Paris)
- Villa La Vigie (Juan-les-Pins, Summer 1924)
- Château de Boisgeloup (Gisors, 1930-1937)
- Château of Vauvenargues (Vauvenargues, 1958-1962)
- Villa La Californie (Cannes, 1955-1961)
- Château de Vie (Mougins, 1961-1973)
television about
- Visit to Picasso (1949)
- Guernica (1950)
- The Mystery of Picasso (1956)
- The Adventures of Picasso (1978)
- Surviving Picasso (1996)
- Picasso: Magic, Sex & Death (2001)
- Modigliani (2004)
- Genius (2018 TV series)
- Carles Casagemas
- Carl Nesjar
- Lydia Corbett
- Lump (dog)
- Fundación Picasso
- Picasso. In the heart of darkness (1939-1945) (2019-2020 exhibition)
- Picasso & Lump (2006 book)
- Picasso referendum of Basel
- Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria
- Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1915 painting)
- "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso" (1924 poem)
- Woman, Bird, Star (Homage to Pablo Picasso) (1973 painting)
- "Pablo Picasso" (1976 song)
- The Blue Guitar (1977 etchings)
- Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1993 play)
- Picasso (crater)