The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Horizontally oriented pencil sketch on white paper of a blocky outlined woman seated facing our left, legs extending to cross her ankles, a nude baby in her lap leaning back to look up at her, right hand reaching back and left hand pulling foot to chest. The woman wears a tunic, wavy hair falling down her back. She looks at the child, cross-hatching shading her face and left arm, which braces the child.

Mother and Child (Study for Mother and Child)

1921

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)
Spain, 20th century
pencil on paper
Sheet: 24.8 x 32.1 cm (9 3/4 x 12 5/8 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1949.527
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Zervos V, 176; PP 21-193
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Pablo Picasso had also explored depictions of mothers and children decades earlier, during his Blue Period.

Description

This drawing is a study for a painting of the same title, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago today. Around the time it was made, Picasso gravitated toward an austere, linear style evocative of Classical art and timeless subjects. Here, a mother wears a Greek robe, gazing down at her newborn who reaches upward. The composition is one of over ten versions that Picasso created around this time.
  • by 1934-1949
    Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1949-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Zervos, Christian. Pablo Picasso. Paris: Cahiers d'art, 1932. Mentioned: no. 176; Reproduced: pl. 85
    Pablo Picasso. Exh. Cat. Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1934. Mentioned: no. 128
    Weisner, Ulrich. Picassos Klassizismus. Exh. Cat. Bielefeld: Kunsthalle Bielefeld, 1988. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 250, 325, no. 51
    Chipp, Herschel Browning , Alan Wofsy, and Fernand Mourlot. Picasso's paintings, watercolors, drawings and sculpture: a comprehensive illustrated catalogue, 1885-1973. San Francisco, CA: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1995. Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 2, p. 222, no. 21-193
  • Picasso and Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (co-organizer) (December 8, 2024-March 23, 2025).
    Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Directions in Drawing: 1750-1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    Picasso's Classicism. Kunsthalle Bielefeld, D-33602 Bielefeld, Germany (organizer) (April 17-July 31, 1988).
    Circa 1930. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 12-October 31, 1983).
    Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961).
    Pablo Picasso. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (February 6-March 1, 1934).
    French Art Since Eighteen Hundred. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8-December 8, 1929).
  • {{cite web|title=Mother and Child (Study for Mother and Child)|url=false|author=Pablo Picasso|year=1921|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.527