Pregnancy in art

A portrait of a pregnant woman by the Russian artist Leontiy Semeonovich Miropolskiy

Pregnancy in art covers any artistic work that portrays pregnancy and fertility in women. It may include drawings, engravings, paintings, portraits, sculptures and figurines.

Historical

Venus of Willendorf, an ancient figurine

Among the oldest surviving examples of the depiction of pregnancy in the form of figurines is the Venus of Willendorf, an oolitic limestone figurine of a woman whose breasts and hips have been exaggerated to emphasise her fertility. Many of these figurines similar to Venus of Willendorf are distributed across much of Eurasia and are collectively known as Venus figurines. These figurines exaggerate the abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs, or vulva of the subject.

In Europe, depiction of pregnancy in art was taboo as artistic depictions of pregnancy were largely avoided in classical art due to the concept of Mary's pregnancy in Christianity.

Portraits of pregnant women began to appear in the medieval period. Many new portraits of pregnant women or women posing as pregnant were created, such as the Arnolfini portrait, which is not clear whether the woman in the portrait was pregnant or not while posing for this painting. La Donna Gravida was another portrait that depicted a pregnant woman sitting with her left hand over her stomach. It was painted in the Renaissance period, which was quite uncommon as portraits of pregnant women were avoided during the Renaissance. Infra-red scans of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa suggests that Mona Lisa was pregnant or just had a baby when she was painted. This corresponds with the historical account provided by the Louvre Museum that Mona Lisa gave birth to a son in 1502.

Modern

Hope II, a painting by Gustave Klimt

In the Modern era, pregnancy came to be portrayed in art without any restrictions or taboos.

The Hope II by Gustav Klimt was perhaps the first modern painting depicting pregnancy in art. It was painted in the Byzantine style and shows a woman looking down her belly, while three women rest at her feet, praying.

The Pregnant Woman by Pablo Picasso was a sculpture dedicated to his then partner Francoise Gilot and was made out of plaster, metal armature, wood, ceramic vessels and jars. Picasso wanted to inspire Gilot to have a third child with him by making this sculpture.

Pregnant woman was the most famous painting in a series of paintings of seven pregnant nude women painted by the American artist Alice Neel. Her work fueled the Women's liberation movement as it drew attention to the fact that pregnancy was a necessary part of life that was impossible without women.

Pregnant girl was a painting by Lucian Freud that portrayed his then girlfriend Bernadine Coverley, when she was pregnant with their daughter Bella.

See also

• Madonna del Parto
• Visual arts