Mothers of Famous Artists -- A New Dedication

The Artist's Mother: Head and Bust,
Three-Quarters Right (1628), Rembrandt

In May of 2021, I posted Mother's Day Dedication and Artist Inspirations. It included artists: Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, and James Whistler. For 2023, let's explore several other famous artists who memorialized moms with portraits. Happy Mother's Day!

Rembrandt captured his mother, Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuytbrouck, in several early etchings and painted portraits, since he was unable to afford to pay models to sit for his paintings. The squiggly lines figure well in showing the woman's age softly and with a subtly pleasant expression.

Mother's Day Off (1916), Rockwell

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother, Anna Whistler, is yet another Portrait of the Artist's Mother (1871) and is famously known simply as Whistler's Mother. Van Gogh's mother, Anna Carbentus van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell's mother, Anne Mary (Hill) Rockwell share similar first names. See the link above for the Van Gogh and Whistler portraits. Norman Rockwell's dedication to mothers appeared in one of his first publications of the Saturday Evening Post in 1916's Mother's Day Off.

Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt,
the Artist's Mother
(1889), Cassatt

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1889), Mary Cassatt

Henrietta Benson Homer, an artist in her own right, was mother to Winslow Homer. I included her work in my recent April Flowers in Art post. I've also featured the works of Mary Cassatt in my posts. Here are portraits of her mother, Mrs. Robertt S. Cassatt (nee Katherine Kelso Johnston). Perhaps the portrait on the left is the final version and much truer to her impressionist style. The one on the right must have been a study. The flowers seem to be floating about her head.

Mother and Child (1938), Picasso

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1896), Picasso

Pablo Picasso did this portrait of his mother, Maria Ruiz Picasso, and has represented motherhood in many of his works. The portrait on the left shows his ability to paint in a realistic style. He has captured the softness of his mother's blouse and the light caressing her face. Contrast it with his painting of lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and their child Maya, long after he became a Cubist painter.

The Dead Mother (1902),
Edvard Munch

Dead Mother (1889), Munch

Edvard Munch was only five years old when his mother, Laura Much, died of tuberculosis following the birth of his sister, Inger. Death was a common subject for Munch. The child's pose is reminiscent of that of The Scream.

Portrait of Artist's Mother (1902),
by Franz Marc

German Expressionist, Franz Marc, painted this portrait of his mother Sophie in 1902. Its muted colors and natural realism are unlike his later more colorful abstract paintings of animals. I wonder if the 'postage stamp' picture in the top right corner is meant to be Franz as a toddler. Without it, my eye may have focused on the book. Its subtle presence in the background suggests that the woman is a mother. Although Franz was married twice during his short life, he never gave his mother any grandchildren.

The Artist's Mother (1916), Hopper

Edward Hopper is most famous for his melancholy painting, Nighthawks, showing patrons hanging out in a diner late at night. He also painted this portrait of his mother, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper. You can see the resemblance between mother and son. The richness of her vibrant purple dress is complemented by details of her face and right hand and contrasted by the pastel yellows in the background.

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1918), Salvador Dali

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1920), Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's portraits of his mother, Felipa Domenech Ferrés differ dramatically. His 1918 Portrait of the Artist's Mother is in a realistic style, while his later version more impressionistic. Later, in 1929, he made a surrealist version entitled, The Enigma Of Desire, My Mother, My Mother.

Woman with Plant (1929), Grant Wood

Hattie Weaver Wood (mother of Grant Wood) is represented in Woman with Plant (1929). In Wood's later more famous American Gothic (1930), he used likenesses of his sister, Nan Wood Graham, and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. The clothing on the woman is very similar to that of the farmer's daughter. Wood put a lot of detail in the woman's face, while the rest of the subject and background are flatter, simpler and more cartoonish.

American folk artist, Grandma (Anna Mary Robinson) Moses, painted her simple landscapes beginning in 1938 at the age of 78. See Artists Born Under Virgo or Libra.

Maga's Daughter (1966), Andrew Wyeth

Betsy Wyeth, wife of painter Andrew Wyeth, had two sons, Nicholas and James (artist Jamie). She was the model for Wyeth's 1966 painting Maga's Daughter. She likened her role as director and Andrew's career as that of an actor. One might also consider her his agent, collaborator, and muse.

Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist’s Garden
in Argenteuil (1875), Claude Monet

I am a sucker for the Impressionists. Claude Monet painted this beautiful scene of his wife, Camille and their daughter relaxing in their garden at Argenteuil, where he lived from 1871-1878. While visiting Paris in 2011, my family and I drove to see Monet's garden in Giverny, where Monet lived from 1883-1926. The focus seems to be on his wife and the vivid blue and white brushstrokes in her dress. The child leaves more of an impression. I like how Monet has framed his composition with the path in the foreground and the flowers fading into the background.