Study for "Mourning"

Study for "Mourning" is a significant preparatory drawing created by Umberto Boccioni in 1910. Executed in pen and black ink on paper, this work demonstrates the artist's intense technical process as he refined the composition for a major, yet unfinished, painting project. The piece focuses intently on the complex interaction of human figures gathered in grief, defining forms through tight, energetic hatch marks and deliberate line work characteristic of Boccioni's transitional period.

The composition centers on the difficult subject of sorrow, rendered with a density of figures that suggests both emotional weight and contained movement. While not yet displaying the radical fragmentation of his mature Futurist work, this drawing shows Boccioni moving away from static Symbolist representation toward dynamic formal exploration. As a study, the sheet reveals the foundational structure of the projected painting, illuminating the artist's compositional strategy before the final medium was applied. Today, this example of early modernist draftsmanship is housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Created concurrently with the foundational writings of the Futurist movement, this drawing is critical for understanding Boccioni's rapid artistic evolution around 1910. Works such as this, produced before the artist’s most famous canvases, provide essential documentation of his commitment to figural complexity. Due to the age of the drawing, the imagery is often considered part of the public domain, facilitating scholarly research and making high-quality prints accessible for educational study and wider appreciation of Boccioni's influential career.