Descripción
The master played with three symbols: a child, a Santa Claus mask and doves. The birds, many, all white, full of life and flying in joyful arabesques in the blue sky, form a frame around the painting of the child in the mask.
The girl reminds us that, a few months earlier, Françoise had left Picasso and taken her children, Claude and Paloma, with her. However, the breakup is not yet final and Françoise agrees to take the children to Cannes to spend Christmas with her father. This tense situation seems to be reflected in the boy’s sad eyes, a kind of “desolate passivity”, and even in the mask of Santa Claus, this messenger of gifts and happiness, the expression is even worse than that of the child, innocent and almost joyful when compared to that of the Christmas messenger.
The drawing of the child and that of the mask have Picasso’s characteristic light brushstrokes and the combination of colours used gives the composition an atmosphere of joy.
