Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
View source →Guernica Study: Weeping Woman with Dead Child
Pablo Picasso, 1937
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
55 × 46 cm (21.7 × 18.1 in)
Style
Expressionism / Cubism
Decade
1930s
About This Work
One of the most harrowing preparatory studies for Guernica, this small canvas focuses on the figure of the mother holding her dead child — the most emotionally devastating element of the large mural. The woman's face is shattered by grief, her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes displaced and multiplied. The study was painted in the days immediately after the bombing of Guernica in April 1937.
On April 26, 1937, Nazi German and Fascist Italian warplanes bombed the Basque town of Guernica at the request of Francisco Franco. Picasso, who had been commissioned to create a mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World's Fair, responded by creating Guernica. This study was painted in the days immediately after the bombing.
Current Location
Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
Priceless / Not for sale
* Estimates are based on comparable auction results and market analysis. Not a formal appraisal.
Last Known Sale
No public auction record — held in permanent museum collection
Keywords
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