Paintings by The Mother

Picture Gallery

   Mother as an Artist    Catalogue    Drawings    Paintings    Book
   Visual Arts in Ashram    Sri Aurobindo On Art    The Mother On Art
  Meditations on Savitri
< Drawings by The Mother
The Mother as an artist



Divine Consciousness Emerging from the Inconscient
1. Oil on board, 13.5 x 8.5 cm, 1920-25, Pondicherry
The title was given by the Mother. During the early 1920s Sri Aurobindo's brother, Barin, was doing some oil painting under the Mother's guidance. As is the common practice of artists, a small board was kept for depositing the surplus paint left on the palette after each session. A random mixture of colours covered most of the surface of this board. One day when Barin had finished his work the Mother asked for the palette and, with the remaining paint, gave a few deft brush strokes to the centre of the board covered with old palette- scrapings. Thus the painting was completed.
Evidently, something had struck the Mother in the swirl of colours on the board. The suggestion of a face may have been already visible in the midst of it. In the finished painting, a face resembling Sri Aurobindo's emerges from the chaos of colours which appropriately represents 'the Inconscient', according to the Mother's title. The Mother herself confirmed that the face is Sri Aurobindo's. It is likely, as is reported in one version of the story, that Sri Aurobindo was present at the time of this incident and she took the opportunity to paint a quick portrait of him. The Mother liked the painting enough to have it printed along with the title she gave it.



Lady on the Staircase
2. Oil on canvas, 50 x 44.5 cm., 1903, France
Signed and dated : Mirra Alfassa/1903. The interior of Manoir de Cantepie, a manor house in Cambremer, Normandy.



Interior with Bright Vases
3. Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 62 cm., 1903, France
Signed and dated : Mirra Alfassa/1903. The painting has darkened so much that no proper reproduction is possible. Nothing of the original colours and detailed work can be seen.



A Musician's Room
4. Oil on canvas, 58.5 x 71 cm., 1904, France
Signed and dated: Mirra Alfassa/1904. Interior of the house of the composer Camille Erlanger. The colours have lost their original charm.



A Landscape with Church Tower
5. Oil on board, 15 x 20.5 cm., Circa I897-1908, France
This painting was executed at Tavers near the country home of the Morissets in Beaugency on the Loire. It has deteriorated and the freshness of the colours is lost.



A Chair
6. Oil on board, 21 x 13 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France
Signed: Mirra Alfassa. A painting done in the studio of Abel Faivre, a famous caricaturist.



Two White Vases
7. Oil on board, 13.5 x 21 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France



An Interior with a Vase
8. Oil on board, 14.5 x 20.5 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France



An Interior
9. Oil on board, 21.5 x 14 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France



An Interior
10. Oil on board, 21.5 x 13 cm., Circa I897-1908, France
Signed: M.



Grapes
11. Oil on canvas, 26 x 39 cm., 1893-97, France
This painting won a first prize in Paris, probably at one of the monthly competitions at the Academie Julian. It had the charm and clarity of brush strokes now noticed with difficulty.



A Friend's Garden
12. Oil on board, 13.5 x 18 cm., Circa 1905, France
The Mother is reported to have said that while meditating in this garden, she had the experience of identity with the earth. The garden may be that of Themanlys in Courseulles, Normandy. The colours of the painting have deteriorated.



The Studio of an Artist
13. Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 45 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France
This painting was done in the studio of Charles Duvent, a painter. It has darkened so much that the colour reproduction is only as good as a black and white reproduction. It is being reproduced for its documentary value.



A Room in a Castle
14. Oil on board, 18 x 26 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France
Probably a room in the Chateau de Beaugency. The colours have deteriorated.



The Hearth
15. Oil on board, 17 x 13 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France
The colours have cracked and have made furrows.



Interior of a Library
16. Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm., Circa 1897-1908, France
It seems this was done in the Musee de CIuny, Paris. The painting has darkened so much that the reproduc­tion is not clear. The colours are also peeling off. There is some doubt about its authorship. The reproduction in this was done after restoration, but is not true to the colours of the original. The damaged painting, before restoration, is shown in black and white at the end (p. 151).



Early Study
17. Oil on canvas, 59 x 44.5 cm., 1895, France
Signed and dated: Mirra Alfassa /1895.



Early Study
18. Oil on canvas, 54 x 48 cm., Circa 1895, France



Early Study
19. Oil on canvas, 54 x 44 cm., Circa 1895, France
Signed: Mirra Alfassa.



Theon's House, Zarif
20. Oil on board, Size not known., 1906, Algeria
Dated: Zarif/1906. Theon is seen with his dog. This painting and the one printed as 22 are in the collection of Pascal Themanlys, whose father first introduced the Mother to Theon. They are reproduced here from photographic prints supplied by him.



Theon's House
21. Oil on board, 15.5 x 23.5 cm., 1906-1907, Algeria
Theon is seen with his dog. This painting and the one printed as 22 are in the collection of Pascal Themanlys, whose father first introduced the Mother to Theon. They are reproduced here from photographic prints supplied by him.



Theon's Garden
22. Oil on board, Size not known., 1906-1907, Algeria



A Vision
23. Oil on board, 13 x 21 cm., Circa 1903-1908, France
The Mother said she did this painting in France and did not have time to finish it. A pencil sketch for it is reproduced on p. 135 (No. 112).



An Apparition
24. Oil on board, 11.5 x 9 cm., 1920-30, Pondicherry
This painting, done in Pondicherry, is not traceable at present. The colour reproduction is made from an earlier print, which had the title The Moon Goddess ('Apparition'). There was a first sketch for it which is reproduced on p. 121.



Shoulders
25. Oil on board, 14.5 x 11 cm., Circa 1903-1908, France
This is a fine example of the Mother's paintings done in France.



Sleeping Woman
26. Oil on canvas, 65 x 65 cm., Circa 1903-1908, France
Signed: Mirra Alfassa. This painting is badly peeling off as is evident from the lower end of the reproduction. A fine work in the impressionist style.



Andre as a Postman
27. Oil on board, 23.5 x 13.5 cm., Circa 1908. , France
The Mother's son in a postman's dress. He was about ten years old when this painting was done.



Andre
28. Oil on board, 11.5 x 10.5 cm., Circa 1903., France
Portrait of the Mother's son, Andre Morisset, when he was four or five years old.



Portrait of a Loving Friend
29. Oil on ivory, 9.5 x 6.5 cm., Circa 1897, France
This portrait of Mme Valentine is done on a small piece of ivory. The Mother presented it to Ms. Maggi Lidchi, one of her disciples, in whom she recognised a reincarnation of her friend. Mme Valentine, a close friend of the Mother's during her days in the art studio, died in childbirth just before the Mother's son, Andre, was born.



Japanese Poet Hirasawa Tetsuo
30. Oil on board, 19.5 x 14 cm., 1916-20, Japan
This excellent portrait of poet and artist Hirasawa Tetsuo is still in fairly good condition. It was done in one sitting. Hirasawa later visited the Mother in Pondicherry (October 1924).



Kobayashi in her Room
31. Oil on canvas, 32.5 x 44 cm., Circa 1917-18, Japan
This portrait of the Mother's friend Nobuko Kobayashi was done in Kyoto. She is here preparing some medicine.



Kobayashi in her Room
32. Oil on canvas, 32.5 x 44 cm., Circa 1917-18, Japan
This portrait of the Mother's friend Nobuko Kobayashi was done in Kyoto. She is here preparing some medicine.



Mrs. Okhawa in her Balcony
33. Oil on canvas, 32.5 x 44 cm., 1918, Japan
Signed and dated: MA (monogram) /1918. This portrait of Mrs. Okhawa in a balcony overlooking Noshiri Lake was probably done when the Mother stayed with her in Kyoto one summer.



Mrs. Okhawa in her Balcony
34. Oil on canvas, 32.5 x 44 cm., 1918, Japan
Signed and dated: MA (monogram) /1918. This portrait of Mrs. Okhawa in a balcony overlooking Noshiri Lake was probably done when the Mother stayed with her in Kyoto one summer.



Trees of Daiunji Temple
35. Oil on board, 15 x 22.5 cm., 1918, Japan
Signed: MA (mono­gram). The Mother and Paul Richard visited the Daiunji temple in Sarashina, about 200 km northwest of Tokyo, between 12 and 15 September 1918. Plates 36 and 41 and drawings Nos. 131 and 132 (p. 144) were also done here.



Roof of Daiunji Temple
36. Oil on board, 15 x 22.5 cm., 1918, Japan
Signed: MA (mono­gram).



Snow on a Tree
37. Oil on board, 15 x 22.5 cm., 1917-18, Japan
Signed: MA (mono­gram). Snow on a tree in a Kyoto garden.



A Japanese Lady with a Lantern
38. Oil on board, 64 x 46.5 cm., Circa 1893-1900, France
This is evidently a copy of a Japanese wood-block print. It was done when the Mother was in France, most probably near the end of the nineteenth century. The painting is in a bad state and the colours are peel­ing off. The reproduction is electronically repaired. The actual condition of the painting is shown in black and white at the end (p. 152).



Image of Buddha
39. Oil on board, 14 x 8.5 cm., 1920-30, Pondicherry
This small painting was probably started by a student and finished by the Mother.



Mural in the Church at Pau
40. Mural, 1898, France
This mural in the church at Pau, a town in the south of France, is signed 'H Morisset 1898'. The lower part of the painting was done by the Mother (see pp. 160-61). The painting depicts a battle between Christians and Moors. Saint James of Compostela, patron saint of the church, appears on a white horse.



Scroll of Daiunji Temple
41. Ink on paper, 136 x 67 cm., 1918, Japan
Signed in Japanese. This scroll was done on Japanese paper and mounted as a kakemono. For the calligraphic writing in Japanese, 171.



An Early Portrait
42. Oil on canvas, Size not known., 1897, France
Signed and dated: Mirra Alfassa 1897. Recently found in the private collection of Dr. Lapey­sonnie in France.



La Console
43. Circa 1905, France
Reproduced from the catalogue of the 1905 exhibition of the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The original painting has not been traced.



Portrait of Mrs. Kobayashi
44. Oil on ivory, Size not known., Circa 1917-1918, Japan
A miniature on ivory done in Japan and presented to Madame Kobayashi.



Goddess Kwannon
45. Circa 1930, Pondicherry
A painting of the Japanese goddess Kwannon, Goddess of Mercy. It was done for the cover of a book in Bengali by Nolini Kanta Gupta, 'Narir Katha'.



Flower Study
46. Oil on board, 17.5 x 14.5 cm., 1950-1960, Pondicherry
Study of a rose in oils to demonstrate the technique of oil-painting to a student.



< Drawings by The Mother
The Mother as an artist