Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682). Our Lady of Sorrows, ca. 1660. Oil on canvas, 163 x 105 cm. Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville

Figures of women weeping, in Spanish art, stem from religious painting, specifically images of the Mater Dolorosa, or Mother of Sorrows. This figure is a woman in mourning for her child who has died; she looks upward with tears in her eyes. For centuries, Spanish artists have been drawn to the Mater Dolorosa, depicting her through painting, drawing, and sculpture. Traditionally, she is shown with seven arrows through her heart, symbolizing her seven sorrows.

Weeping women were a common theme in seventeenth-century Spanish art. Sculptural versions of the Mater Dolorosa can be seen every year in the Spanish province of Seville, during the week of Easter. A remarkable annual parade features floats that date back centuries, each representing a local religious association. Half of these floats carry statues representing the Mater Dolorosa.

Originally, figures such as the Dolorosa served as intercessors: they were believed to help people communicate with God. Later, images of saints were often used in a more metaphorical way: to show the suffering of the people and the need for charity, for example. In the twentieth-century, Pablo Picasso transformed the Mater Dolorosa into an antiwar symbol, a woman whose child has been killed, screaming at the world that harms the innocent.

About the works

In this version of the Mother of Sorrows, the mourning woman looks upward to Heaven, hands outstretched. She may be asking, “Why?” She may be looking toward Heaven for comfort. While a traditional Mater Dolorosa would have seven arrows through her heart, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo avoided allegorical symbolism in favor of realism in this work: this might almost be a portrait of a real woman, seated in prayer. Simplicity, along with superb draftsmanship, explains why Murillo’s devotional paintings were very popular with art buyers of his time.

Unlike many earlier painters, who depicted idealized figures with little relation to the Spanish people who viewed them, Murillo wanted his figures to be recognizably Spanish and to represent the everyday life of the people, with their joys and sorrows. It has been said that Murillo was particularly interested in painting images that showed compassion and charity.

Pablo Picasso’s Weeping Woman I is similar in some ways to Murillo’s Our Lady of Sorrows: a woman in grief turns her face up toward Heaven. Unlike Murillo’s figure, this woman does not seem to be looking for comfort, but rather raging against the inequities of the world. Her tears are prominent, etched into her face. Her frightening mouth is open, teeth bared, in a scream. This drawing is part of a series of sixty weeping women painted by Picasso in 1937.

Picasso transformed this religious symbol of sadness and acceptance into a powerful political symbol, a mother whose child has been killed by the atrocities of war. In the 1930s, Spain was in the midst of a civil war. Francisco Franco, the leader of the Nationalist Party, used force to seize political control of the country in 1936. In 1937, Franco’s ally Germany bombed Guernica, a small Basque town, as part of an exercise testing their military power. Low-flying planes dropped bombs during the afternoon on a market day, when people from nearby came to Guernica to do their shopping. The first deliberate aerial bombing of a city, the attack killed more than 1,600 people. Franco denied that the raid had taken place.

Weeping Woman I is related to Picasso’s Guernica, one of the greatest antiwar statements ever painted. Guernica contains two women: one with a dead child in her arms, looking up at the sky, screaming; the other with hands reaching up, mouth wide open.

• Picasso was very interested in classical painting and often borrowed from and transformed the work of earlier painters. In what ways does he borrow from Murillo in this work? In what ways does he change the image of the “weeping woman”?
• Murillo’s Our Lady of Sorrows is a devotional painting, meant to assist the viewer in making his or her prayers heard. Look closely at this woman; how does Murillo make her a sympathetic figure? Can you imagine going to her for help? Why or why not?
• Imagine a conversation between the figures in Murillo’s Our Lady of Sorrows and Picasso’s Weeping Woman I. Both are most likely mothers who have lost a child. How are their responses similar? Different? Write a dialogue that reflects what you think the two of them might say to each other. With a partner, act out the conversation.

• What associations do you have with “weeping women”? If you were going to use a weeping woman as a symbol, what would it stand for? What would you do to the image to help viewers understand this symbolism? Try it.
  Visual Arts


• Murillo’s woman might be said to symbolize charity; Picasso’s, the anguish of war. Pick one of these topics: what imagery would you use to capture this concept? You might try having each person in the class consider this and then compare their images. How are they similar? Different?
  Visual Arts


• Picasso created sixty different versions of the Weeping Woman theme. What symbol, image, or idea can you imagine approaching sixty times, in different ways? What about this symbol, image, or idea captures your imagination? Try drawing or writing about it in at least five different ways. Was that easier than you thought it would be? More difficult?
  English / Language Arts


• In the library or on the Internet, research the Spanish Civil War and news coverage of the 1937 bombing of Guernica. (See, for examples, pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/guernica/glevel_1/1_bombing.html) Why was this action seen as so horrifying?
  Social Studies


• Examine an image of Picasso’s painting Guernica (1937). How is the impact of this event reflected in Picasso’s work? Can you find evidence of how Picasso’s drawing Weeping Woman I is incorporated within Guernica?
  Visual Arts