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Head of a Woman (Portrait of the Artist's Mother)

Juan Gris Spanish
Paris, 1912
Not on view
While distorted facial features are legible on the top half of this gridded composition, the bottom half is more difficult to read, making it a challenge to identify the woman with pearl earrings. It was Gris’s friend and dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler who first referred to this painting as a portrait of the artist’s mother, “painted from memory, for after leaving Madrid he never saw her again.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Head of a Woman (Portrait of the Artist's Mother)
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: Paris, 1912
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 3/16 × 18 1/4 in. (53.8 × 46.4 cm)
    Framed: 28 1/4 in. × 34 3/4 in. × 1 3/4 in. (71.8 × 88.3 × 4.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2025
  • Object Number: 2025.616.37a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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Costume Design for the Shepherdess, for the Ballet 'Les Tentations de la Bergère, premiered at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 1924, Juan Gris Spanish, Watercolor and gouache
Costume Design for the Shepherdess, for the Ballet 'Les Tentations de la Bergère, premiered at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 1924
Juan Gris
1923
Au Soleil du Plafond
Multiple artists/makers
1955
Seated Angel (cover design for "L'Humoriste"), Juan Gris Spanish, Opaque watercolor and ink with graphite and pen on board
Seated Angel (cover design for "L'Humoriste")
Juan Gris
1909
Violin and Playing Cards on a Table, Juan Gris Spanish, Oil on canvas
Violin and Playing Cards on a Table
Juan Gris
1913
Violin and Engraving, Juan Gris Spanish, Oil, sand, collage on canvas
Violin and Engraving
Juan Gris
1913

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