The Weeping Woman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Weeping Woman
Artist	Pablo Picasso
Year	1937
Medium	Oil on canvas
Movement	Surrealism
Dimensions	61 cm × 50 cm (23 15/60 in × 19 11/16 in)
Location	Tate Modern, London

The Weeping Woman (French: La Femme qui pleure) is a famous series of paintings by Pablo Picasso. He created them in 1937. These paintings show Dora Maar, who was Picasso's partner and inspiration.

Picasso made these artworks because of the bombing of Guernica. This terrible event happened during the Spanish Civil War. The paintings are closely linked to his very large painting called Guernica. Picasso was very interested in the idea of a weeping woman. He painted this theme many times that year.

The last painting in the series was made on October 26, 1937. It is the most detailed one. You can see it at the Tate Modern museum in London. Another painting from the series is in the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. This one was once stolen in a famous art theft.

Why Picasso Painted The Weeping Woman

Picasso created The Weeping Woman during the Spanish Civil War. This war started in July 1936. General Franco led a revolt against the government.

The paintings were a way for Picasso to react to the bombing of Guernica. This bombing happened on April 26, 1937. Adolf Hitler ordered the German air force to bomb the Basque town of Guernica. They did this to help General Franco. Picasso was very upset by newspaper photos of the event. His paintings were a personal protest.

In January 1937, Picasso was asked to create a large painting. It was for the Spanish Pavilion at an exhibition in Paris. While he was working, the bombing of Guernica happened. Picasso was shocked by the violence.

He said in a newspaper, "In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica, and in all my recent works of art, I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death." The Weeping Woman series is like a follow-up to Guernica.

Picasso also protested against Franco's rule with two etchings. These were called The Dream and Lie of Franco. He also wrote a poem with these etchings. The poem talked about women crying. This was an early idea for his paintings of the weeping woman. She became a symbol for Spain's suffering during the war.

How the Paintings Developed

Picasso first started drawing weeping women on May 24, 1937. He did this while creating Guernica. However, he decided not to include a weeping woman in Guernica itself. He felt it would take away from the pain shown by the other figures.

Picasso wanted Guernica to show the immediate shock of the bombing. He did not want it to show the sadness that would come later. After finishing Guernica, Picasso was still very interested in the weeping woman.

One art expert said, "The one motif he could not relinquish was that of the weeping woman. Her visage haunted him." Between June and July 1937, Picasso made many drawings. He also painted four oil paintings of the weeping woman. He finished the last The Weeping Woman painting in October 1937. In total, he made 36 artworks about the weeping woman that year.

Dora Maar: The Model

Picasso met Dora Maar in 1935. She was a photographer. They were brought together by their shared love for art and politics. Dora Maar was 26 years younger than Picasso.

Maar was a photographer and part of the Surrealist art movement. She was Picasso's partner until 1945. It was Dora Maar who took photos of Picasso painting Guernica. These photos show how the famous artwork was made.

Dora Maar was very aware of politics. She may have influenced Picasso's own political ideas. She also helped Picasso find the studio where he painted Guernica. Picasso first drew her portrait in September 1936. She became his main model. He usually showed her as calm. But in the weeping woman paintings, his style changed.

Picasso painted Dora Maar many times. He often showed her crying. This led to her being known as his "weeping woman." She was an artist herself, but many people only remember her through Picasso's paintings. Maar did not like these portraits. She said, "All (Picasso's) portraits of me are lies. They're Picassos. Not one is Dora Maar."

Different Versions of The Weeping Woman

There are four main oil paintings of The Weeping Woman. Picasso painted them between September and October 1937. He also made many drawings on this subject.

The most famous painting is at the Tate Gallery in London. Another important version is at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. A third painting is at the LA County Museum of Art. The fourth version is at the Musée Picasso in Paris.

The Tate Modern Painting

The final version of Picasso's 1937 The Weeping Woman is an abstract painting. It shows a woman filled with sadness. It is an oil painting on canvas. It measures 61 x 50 cm. Picasso signed it 'Picasso 37'.

This painting is part of a series about a weeping woman. Picasso created them while working on Guernica. The painting uses bright colors and strong lines. Picasso used many angular shapes to show the figure. Even though it is abstract, you can tell the model is Dora Maar.

An art expert, Roland Penrose, talked about the colors. He said, "The result of using colour in a manner so totally unassociated with grief, for a face in which sorrow is evident in every line, is highly disconcerting." It was like the sadness came without warning.

The face of the weeping woman looks like figures in Guernica. For example, it continues the theme of sadness. This can be seen in the screaming woman holding a dead baby in Guernica. Picasso made many versions of the woman's face. Sometimes, she was twisted almost beyond recognition.

The Weeping Woman is seen as the most complex painting in the series. It has the most pieces and colors. Picasso showed the hands, mouth, teeth, handkerchief, and tears in the center. He also paid close attention to the eyes. The Tate museum notes that the eyes look like boats or overflowing saucers. They are placed on the peaks of the handkerchief. This shows intense physical and emotional pain.

The way the weeping woman's face is built is very unique. It shares many design ideas with the women in Guernica. The face is shown from different angles. The nose is in profile, the mouth is three-quarters view, and the eyes are from the front. This style is also in Guernica. However, The Weeping Woman uses cubist shapes. It breaks the face into angular planes. This is different from the flatter shapes in Guernica.

The Painting's Journey

Picasso sold the painting to Roland Penrose in November 1937. Penrose later gave it to Antony Penrose in 1963. The artwork was stolen in 1969 but was found. It was then loaned to the Tate museum for a long time. In 1987, it became a permanent part of the Tate's collection.

The Theft of the Tate Painting

On April 7, 1969, The Weeping Woman was stolen. Twenty-five other paintings were also taken from the Penrose home in London. The theft was widely reported in the news. Roland Penrose talked about it on TV.

He told a newspaper, "My most prized picture was a Picasso called 'A Woman Weeping'." He bought it soon after Picasso painted it. He said it was worth a lot of money. Penrose told Picasso about the theft. He called it an "appalling disaster."

The paintings were found by workers in July. They were in a house that was going to be torn down. When Penrose saw the paintings again, he was very emotional. This theft made the family improve their security. This is why the painting was loaned to the Tate.

Importance of the Painting

The Weeping Woman is a very important work in British Surrealism. It was shown at a big Surrealist art exhibition in 1937. Later, in 1939, it was shown with Guernica in London.

Frances Morris, from the Tate Modern, called it "a highlight of Surrealism." She also said it was "an amazing depiction of female grief and a metaphor for the tragedy of Spain." It was painted during the Spanish Civil War. It powerfully shows a moment of great sadness.

Other Versions

The Australian Painting

Another version of The Weeping Woman is at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Australia. Picasso painted it on October 18, 1937. It measures 55.2 × 46.2 cm. The gallery bought it in 1986 for 1.6 million Australian dollars. This made it the most expensive painting bought by an Australian gallery at that time.

The purchase caused some debate. Some local artists felt the money could have been better spent on Australian art. The painting's small size also added to the discussion about its high cost. In 2016, this NGV version was valued at $100 million.

Its Own Theft Story

This painting was involved in a famous art theft in August 1986. It was stolen from the NGV. The thieves wanted to make a statement about how art was funded in Australia. The theft was reported in news around the world.

The thieves left a note. They demanded more money for the arts. Police searched widely but could not find the painting. Later that month, it was found in a locker at a train station in Melbourne. The thieves were never caught. People still wonder who did it and if it was an "inside job."

Third Version

A third version of the painting is kept at the Musée Picasso in Paris.

See also

• Portrait of Dora Maar
• Dora Maar au Chat
• List of Picasso artworks 1931–1940