![Pablo Picasso - Children in the Luxembourg Gardens [1901]](http://farm1.staticflickr.com/732/22110745409_c3eee58043_o.jpg)
Painted in the spring of 1901, the present composition depicts one of the spectacles of urban life that Picasso found so fascinating during his second trip to Paris. The artist spent his days exploring the capital, visiting the Louvre and galleries of the rue Laffitte and frequenting the cafés, dance halls and brothels that featured in many of the works of Toulouse-Lautrec. Even in his paintings of traditional themes like still-lifes and mothers and children, Picasso favoured a palette and a technique that capture the energy and dazzle of this exciting chapter in his life. The scene here depicts children and their caretakers amidst the open-air splendour of the Luxembourg Gardens in spring. The composition is dominated by tones of blue and green, a palette that is often associated with Picasso’s emotional state following the death of his friend Casagemas earlier in the year. The present composition, however, depicts a convivial scene from the dawn of the artist’s famed Blue Period and is among the important pictures that helped establish Picasso as a leader among the avant-garde.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on paper laid down on cradled panel, 32.2 x 40.2 cm]