The artwork “Children,” painted by Balthus in 1937, belongs to the Surrealist art movement and is crafted with tempera on canvas. This genre painting is currently housed in the Musée Picasso in Paris, France.
In the artwork, two children are depicted in an interior setting. One child, a girl, is shown kneeling on the floor, deep in concentration as she draws or writes on a sheet of paper laid before her. She is dressed in a plaid skirt and a top, her posture suggesting a mix of absorption in her task and relaxation. Behind her, another child, a boy, leans on a table with his elbows, resting his head in his hands, and appears to be lost in thought or observation. The background of the painting is dark and nondescript, focusing the viewer’s attention on the children and their activities. The somber and contemplative mood, combined with the unusual position of the children, imbues the scene with a surreal quality characteristic of Balthus’s style.
