Science and Charity

Science and Charity is an oil on canvas painting by Pablo Picasso, which he painted in Barcelona in 1897. It is an example of one of Picasso's earliest works, as he painted it when he was only 15 years old. The painting depicts a formal composition of a sick patient in bed, attended by a doctor and a nun holding a child. It was the culmination of Picasso's academic training and displays his talent as an artist before he moved away from this style to pursue his own artistic career. The painting is housed in the collection of the Museu Picasso, Barcelona. Background José Ruiz y Blasco, Picasso's father, was a professor of painting who felt he had failed in his own attempts to become a renowned artist. Picasso's father "had a twofold problem: the inclination to be an artist but not the gifts, and the temperament of a gentleman of leisure but not the means." He wanted his son to succeed in the world of professional painting and offered Picasso a strong academic background with hopes that he would be featured at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid. Picasso began his academic training in Coruña and also studied in Barcelona at the Llotja School. Picasso was influenced by the medical profession from an early age. His paternal uncle, Dr. Salvador Ruiz, was a physician and financed Picasso's art training. When Picasso entered art school at the Instituto da Guarda at the age of ten, the director, Dr. Ramon Perez Couteles, who was also a physician, became Picasso's role model. In 1896, Picasso received rave reviews for his work The First Communion, which was presented at the Third Exhibition of Arts and Artistic Industries in Barcelona. This encouraged his father to rent a workshop for his son at No. 4 of La Plata Street in the Ribera neighbourhood, near the family home on the La Mercè Street. It was in this workshop where Picasso painted Science and Charity. He was only 15 years old.