The Artist's Sister Lola

1899–1900

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)

Culture

Spain, 20th century

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

Framed: 62.5 x 54 x 8 cm (24 5/8 x 21 1/4 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 46.7 x 37.5 cm (18 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David S. Ingalls 1966.377

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Picasso's younger sister, Maria Dolores Ruiz Picasso, known as Lola, was born in Málaga, Spain, in December 1884, several days after the city suffered an earthquake. The family sometimes affectionately called Lola "La Terremótica" (the little earthquake) partly because of the circumstances of her birth, but also because of her restless and inquisitive nature.

Description

Pablo Picasso painted this portrait when he was 18 years old and sharing ideas with artists and writers in Barcelona who were dubbed modernists in the press. During this period, his younger sister, Maria Dolores Ruiz Picasso (1884–1958), known as Lola, was a favorite model. Picasso’s bold handling of paint, the intense palette, and the way in which the figure’s hands are merely suggested reveal the artist’s early embrace of modernism. Lola’s mantilla (a lace or silk scarf worn over the head and shoulders especially by Spanish and Latin American women) may allude to the family’s Andalusian roots in southern Spain and their Catholic faith.