Geometric handkerchief clenched in teeth Symbolism

A private act of comfort hardened into an emblem; suggests the futility of consolation and the strain of holding pain in.

Common Themes

Loss, grief, and consolationMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)The double/doppelgängerWar & conflictChristian iconographyGrief & mourning

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

The Weeping Woman by Pablo Picasso

The Weeping Woman

Pablo Picasso (1937)

Picasso’s The Weeping Woman turns private mourning into a public, <strong>iconic emblem of civilian grief</strong>. Shattered planes, <strong>acidic greens and purples</strong>, and jewel-like tears force the viewer to feel the fracture of perception that follows trauma <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.