Focus on Child with a Dove and explore the Significance and legacy.
Child with a Dove is considered to be the earliest example of Picasso's Blue Period, presenting a simplified style and coarse brushwork that is reminiscent of Van Gogh and Gauguin. The presence of the dove is particularly significant, as it represents peace and purity. It also had a personal significance for Picasso, who watched his father José Ruiz y Blasco paint doves when Picasso was a boy.The painting was described by Arts Council England as "probably the most famous work by Picasso in a UK collection". An Expert adviser's statement for Arts Council said, "It is a work that enjoys great public affection, providing an engaging mixture of radical brushwork, bold stylisation and charmingly sentimental subject matter.".Lord Inglewood, chairman of the Arts Council-managed Reviewing Committee described the painting's departure from the UK as "a great shame" and said of the painting, "Child With A Dove is an iconic Picasso painting, and has a long history in British collections. It is one of Picasso's key early works, and marks a transitional moment in his career, the move into his much celebrated Blue Period".
Jonathan Jones for The Guardian summarised the significance of the painting.In this painting, the artist who was to reveal his inner male violence in paintings of savage bullfights shows his sweet and loving side, a simple joy in life. Child with a Dove is however more revolutionary than it might seem. It has a primitive clarity no 19th-century artist was capable of. Building on the insights of Gauguin, this painting by the young Picasso – it dates from 1901, his 20th year – breaks out into a new visual language of complete boldness and human directness. The dove the child holds would of course become one of Picasso's personal additions to modern symbolism, the dove of peace he was to let fly during the Cold war.
dove of peace Van Gogh Picasso's Blue Period Blue Period Cold war Arts Council England José Ruiz y Blasco Gauguin