Maternità (Maternity) is the title of this color lithograph by Montserrat Gudiol, a painter held in esteem in Catalonia who is today dedicated to Realism. The print was published by the famous Sala Gaspar publishers in Barcelona, a seal of quality for the printing. This maternity brings to the fore the self-confidence of the woman, in happiness as in melancholy. Gudiol is a representative of a cultivated Catalan art movement which, like this print, was oriented towards Picasso's earlier Blue and Pink Periods and also reflective of this print, is reminiscent of Catalan Gothic art with some characteristics of Mannerism. Also evident is some influence from the painter Pere Gastós. Montserrat Gudiol's father was an art historian and collector, and so she grew up in an artistic environment. Softness is combined with a balanced distance and coolness, also reflected in the technique, which allows no harshness. The silver of the graphite, the pencil and the light coloring of the background, which brilliantly transfers the lines into the painting, lift the emotions in a balanced light. This is a typical print for Gudiol's naturalistic genre of the 80's. J. Corredor-Matheos writes about this subtle transformation in his monograph (Sala Gaspar Publishers, 1986).

The central motifs of this artist are the couple, man and woman, the meditating woman, lost in thought. There is a veil of soft melancholy over everything, and the pastel color selection is an expression of this - cool pink, lilac, violet, blue-gray and silver color hues. Ochre accents constitute the store of warmth. Gudiol usually shows faces in profile or half-profile. Fine lips, mouth pursed so that the lips point slightly downward, lowered eyelids, and Athenian bodies characterize her classical imagery. The figures are visibly shrouded in silence. The photograph of Montserrat Gudiol reveals how much she herself fits this image. Somewhat reserved, like her figures, she stands before her studio, which looks like an enclosed garden shed. In the garden is an easel. The painter stands, arms crossed, on the threshold, in a blouse buttoned high and an ankle-length skirt, gazing meditatively, unreal like the faces in her paintings, motionless, in a sort of reverie, in solitary contemplation. Most publications maintain silence on her personal life. Montserrat Gudiol, one of the few female painters in this collection. ek