La Vie

La Vie — Pablo Picasso. 1903.

Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 239 x 170 x 10 cm (94 1/8 x 66 15/16 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 196.5 x 129.2 cm (77 3/8 x 50 7/8 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

The subject of this painting has been interpreted variously as a realistic portrayal of a working-class couple facing the challenges of poverty and as a symbolic representation of the cycle of life, with the infant representing childhood, the couple representing youth, and the draped woman representing age. In 1901, depressed by the suicide of his friend, the poet and painter Carles Casagemas, Pablo Picasso began the melancholic paintings of his Blue Period (1901–4). Twenty-one years old and struggling to support himself, he restricted his palette to cool colors suggestive of night, mystery, dreams, and death. His interest in themes of suffering and social alienation culminated in this painting.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.