Christmas Morning, Breakfast

Horace Pippin shows the grandeur in the ordinary lives of common folk. In this autobiographical work, a mother serves pancakes while her son sits patiently with his hands folded in prayer, waiting to eat breakfast. The home's poverty is evident in the exposed wallboards where large chunks of plaster have fallen away, and the mother’s life of unremitting labor is evident in her bowed back. Yet the painting glows with familial warmth between the two figures, and the neatness of the room suggests domestic order.

Pippin was self-taught, and regarded himself as a realist: “I don’t go around making up a whole lot of stuff. I paint it exactly the way it is and exactly the way I see it.” His method was not academic. “Pictures just come to my mind,” he explained, “and I tell my heart to go ahead.” Pippin developed a simplified, abstract manner based on a stylization of natural forms arranged in flat patterns. He used delicate line and subtle coloring for his poignant narratives.

Horace Pippin took up painting after returning home from World War I. He had sustained permanent injury after being shot in the right shoulder, and could no longer make his living as a laborer. Pippin painted his small masterpieces by using his left hand to prop up his right forearm.