The Weeping Woman

Weeping Woman (Dora), (60 х 49 cm, 23 ⅝ х 19 ¼ inches) is an oil on canvas painted by Pablo Picasso in 1937. Picasso was intrigued with the subject, and revisited the theme numerous times that year. [Léal, Brigitte: "Portraits of Dora Maar", "Picasso and Portraiture", page 396. Harry N. Abrams, 1996.] This painting was the final and most elaborate of the series. It has been in the collection of the Tate Gallery in London since 1987.

Echoes of Guernica

The Weeping Woman series is regarded as a thematic continuation of the tragedy depicted in Picasso's epic painting Guernica. In focusing on the image of a woman crying, the artist was no longer painting the effects of the Spanish Civil War directly, but rather referring to a singular universal image of suffering. [Léal, page 396, 1996.]

The model for the painting, indeed for the entire series, was Dora Maar, who was working as a professional photographer when Picasso met her in 1936; she was the only photographer allowed to document the successive stages of Guernica while Picasso painted it in 1937. [Léal, page 406, 1996.]

Dora Maar

Maar was Picasso's mistress from 1936 until 1944. In the course of their relationship Picasso painted her in a number of guises, some realistic, some benign, others tortured or threatening. [Léal, page 406, 1996.] Picasso explained:

"For me she's the weeping woman. For years I've painted her in tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure, either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the deep reality, not the superficial one." [Léal, page 395, 1996.]

"Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman....And it's important, because women are suffering machines." [Malraux, André: "Picasso's Mask", page 138. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976.]

References

External links

Weeping Woman at the Tate Gallery [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=11871]