The Weeping Woman was completed in 1937. Picasso made it as part of a series of paintings depicting a grieving woman, closely connected to his response to the Spanish Civil War and the bombing of Guernica.
Picasso’s model was Dora Maar, the photographer and artist who was his lover and muse. He returned to the motif repeatedly between May and October 1937, producing drawings and several oil paintings rather than a single identical version.
The best-known version is in the Tate collection. Picasso completed it on 26 October 1937, after working through increasingly fragmented forms, vivid colors, angular planes and exaggerated tears. Its Cubist distortions convey emotional pain rather than a straightforward likeness.
A common mix-up is treating The Weeping Woman as one unique painting. The title refers to a series of related works, all made in 1937. Another important version, dated 18 October, is held by the National Gallery of Victoria.