MOTHER OF THE DAY

13.03.2012
MOTHER OF THE DAY
How Mums Do It

"When I was a child," Picasso once recalled, "my mother said to me, if you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll end up as Pope. Instead I became a painter - and wound up as Picasso."

Thus - and how other mothers will smile in recognition - Maria Picasso y Lopez gave her boy the confidence to succeed. And, indeed, Picasso turned to his mum throughout his life for that little boost of implacable and unswerving confidence that even a genius requires from time to time.

Mind you, Maria took no chances: after a difficult birth - Pablo was thought stillborn until one of his uncles accidentally blew cigar smoke into the baby's face - she had him christened with as many saints' names as she could think of: Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuseno Maria de los Remedios Crispi Crispignano de la Santisima Trinidad Martir Patricio Ruiz y Picasso. Undying love, fierce confidence, but never afraid to call in back-up: that's a top mum for you. The picture is, of course, by her son.