First Steps

Pablo Picasso, 1943

Technical Details

About This Work

Painted during the Nazi occupation of Paris, First Steps depicts a mother guiding her toddler's first tentative steps. The angular, Cubist fragmentation of the figures — particularly the child's straining, effortful body — gives the scene both tenderness and anxiety. Painted in wartime, the image of new life taking its first steps carries an additional weight of hope and vulnerability.

Painted in occupied Paris, where Picasso continued to work despite the dangers of the occupation. The Gestapo visited his studio on several occasions. The image of a child's first steps — new life, new beginnings — takes on particular poignancy in the context of wartime destruction.

Current Location

Valuation & Provenance

Keywords