Decade 1930-1939
Except otherwise stated, all results below include the premium.
See also : Sculpture Bust The Woman Nude Animals Picasso Marie-Thérèse Picasso later 1930s Mondrian Russia and Eastern Europe Brancusi
See also : Sculpture Bust The Woman Nude Animals Picasso Marie-Thérèse Picasso later 1930s Mondrian Russia and Eastern Europe Brancusi
1930 Composition en Rouge, Bleu et Jaune by Mondrian
2022 SOLD for $ 51M by Sotheby's
On November 14, 2022, Sotheby's sold for $ 51M a Composition en rouge, bleu et jaune 51 x 51 cm painted in 1930 by Mondrian, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house where Bridget Riley narrates the influence of Mondrian on her own art.
This image is asymmetrically divided by a horizontal and a vertical end to end lines. A dominant bright red fills the upper right as a square while the other three quadrants are narrower for the escape to infinity. There is no black border on the canvas but it is mounted in a light grey artist's frame.
The smaller quadrant on the opposite side of the red is an escaping vivid blue. The upper left and lower right areas are split by a horizontal line twice thicker than the other lines, a departure of that year from Mondrian's austere rules. The lower right is on its turn split in two by a vertical line to display an escaping bright yellow corner.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 15, 2022
#AuctionUpdate: The iconic ‘Composition No. II’ by Piet Mondrian has set the artist’s new record, achieving an astounding $51 million. #SothebysModern
This image is asymmetrically divided by a horizontal and a vertical end to end lines. A dominant bright red fills the upper right as a square while the other three quadrants are narrower for the escape to infinity. There is no black border on the canvas but it is mounted in a light grey artist's frame.
The smaller quadrant on the opposite side of the red is an escaping vivid blue. The upper left and lower right areas are split by a horizontal line twice thicker than the other lines, a departure of that year from Mondrian's austere rules. The lower right is on its turn split in two by a vertical line to display an escaping bright yellow corner.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 15, 2022
#AuctionUpdate: The iconic ‘Composition No. II’ by Piet Mondrian has set the artist’s new record, achieving an astounding $51 million. #SothebysModern
- Sotheby's post celebrates the November 2022 sale of Piet Mondrian's 1930 "Composition No. II" for $51 million, surpassing the artist's prior $50.6 million record and exemplifying his De Stijl geometric abstraction.
- Created during Mondrian's Paris years, the oil-on-canvas features his signature primary colors and grids, symbolizing universal harmony; it fetched this price from a European collector at Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction.
- As of October 2025, the record holds despite a $47.6 million Mondrian sale at Christie's earlier this year, while replies reveal public amusement over its "simple" appearance versus multimillion-dollar value.
Piet Mondrian's Composition No. II from 1930 is coming to @Sothebys in Nov with a $50m estimate. This matches the selling price of similar but slightly smaller work sold 7 years ago. pic.twitter.com/B2e0hqj45s
— LiveArt (@artmarket) October 6, 2022
1932 La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée by Brancusi
2018 SOLD for $ 71M by Christie's
Being a muse for Brancusi was not a difficult task. He had met Margit Pogany very briefly in 1910 but liked the shape of her head which inspired him until the mid-1920s.
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It was sold for $ 71M at lot 19 A by Christie's on May 15, 2018. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts May 16, 2018
A rare bronze by Constantin Brancusi topped the auction high for the artist as his polished portrait of the flamboyant shipping heiress Nancy Cunard reached $71 million at Christie's. https://nyti.ms/2rK5Nha
The heads sculpted by Brancusi are not abstract. He considers that everything that overflows, mainly nose and ears, is inappropriate to express the deep reality of a portrait. He gradually reduces these growths to a surface carving up to removing them completely.
Around 1925 he made a wooden bust 55 cm high on the theme of La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée. He takes Nancy Cunard as a model, without telling her. The heiress of the Cunard shipowners, she has an eccentric life that symbolizes the roaring twenties in the Parisian literary and artistic circles. She is sexually liberated and anarchist, and her attires are inspired by Africa.
The almost abstract head is indeed a portrait. Comparing with the photos of the period, we recognize the bulging forehead and the receding chin, and the stiff neck from behind. This disturbing muse always offers in the photos an unpleasant pout that we imagine also through the rare incisions of the sculpture. The pinched bun is an evocation of her signature bunches.
Brancusi made a plaster in 1928 and a unique polished bronze in 1932. This bronze is still installed on the marble base designed by the artist, for a total height of 80 cm. It was sold for $ 71M at lot 19 A by Christie's on May 15, 2018. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Nancy Cunard discovered many years later that she had served as a model for this artwork. After hesitating in its interpretation as a bust or a torso, she expressed her admiration for the artist.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts May 16, 2018
A rare bronze by Constantin Brancusi topped the auction high for the artist as his polished portrait of the flamboyant shipping heiress Nancy Cunard reached $71 million at Christie's. https://nyti.ms/2rK5Nha
- This 2018 New York Times Arts post announces the record $71 million auction sale of Constantin Brancusi's rare 1932 bronze sculpture "La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée (Portrait de Nancy Cunard)" at Christie's, surpassing the artist's prior high of $57 million.
- Brancusi, a Romanian modernist pioneer in Paris, abstracted the flamboyant heiress Nancy Cunard's features into a sleek, elongated form symbolizing her bohemian life as a writer, jazz patron, and anti-fascist activist.
- The unique cast, held in one collection for over 60 years, drew three bidders and remains Brancusi's top auction price as of 2025, underscoring sustained market interest in his innovative abstract portraits.
PICASSO
1
March 8, 1932 Nu, Feuilles vertes et Buste
2010 SOLD for $ 106M by Christie's
Picasso is dazzled by the blonde beauty of Marie-Thérèse Walter when he meets her by chance on January 8 of a year that has not been identified with certainty. Sweet and docile, she agrees to become his muse. Picasso is married to Olga and his affair with Marie-Thérèse is illegal. Cautiously he waits before portraying his girlfriend in erotic positions.
Marie-Thérèse attains her legal majority on July 13, 1930, thus putting an end to the torment of Tantalus of her passionate lover. Olga has not yet discovered this infidelity. Remaining cautious, Picasso buys the château of Boisgeloup in the same month to install away from Paris his mistress and his second studio. In 1931 he carves many busts where he captures the roundnesses of the head and face of Marie-Thérèse.
His paintings of December 1931 dared to introduce recognizable features including the blonde hair and the rounded rosy cheeks.
In January 1932, willing to display the nude, he is more cautious and comes back to his style of the previous phase where the face cannot be identified. The first full nudes are Le Repos on January 22 and Le Sommeil on January 23.
Le Rêve, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on January 24, 1932, indeed marks the point of no return. It was sold for $ 48M by Christie's on November 10, 1997.
This dressed portrait is one of the very first where the young blonde woman is recognizable. Picasso had chosen her for the voluptuous beauty of her curves. She sleeps peacefully in an armchair, her head bent over her right shoulder. It is however a dream. Picasso uses his signature vision in multiple perspectives but teratology is rarer. Yet here Marie-Thérèse has six fingers on each hand.
For the artist, this dream is also erotic, perhaps ending a long period of frustration when he did not want to be accused of abusing a minor. This painting offers in several places a double reading, quiet and pornographic. Such a mingling is rare : later Pablo will rather tend to associate with pornography a complacently autobiographical bestiality.
On March 8, 1932 this young man of 50 years wants to express the strength of his love for Marie-Thérèse Walter. The result is that Nude, green leaves and bust for sale by Christie's on May 4, 2010. It was sold for $ 106M.
The young woman is glorified twice: despite the stylization typical of the Picassos of that time, the bust looks unmistakably similar as the head of the nude. The young woman sleeps peacefully, lying on her back, offered in the nude before the artist's eyes. The leaves symbolize the force of spring ... and that of the painter, for sure. The bright colors in flat areas increase the perfect legibility of the work. The painting is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity
This lot has many qualities. It is large (162 x 130 cm). It was recorded, but was not shown to the public for half a century.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Johnny Crash @JackBearCity Jun 21
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” is a 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso, featuring his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. It sold for the first time 20 years later in 1951. Christie’s of New York sold it in 2010 for $106 million ($160 million in today’s dollars) a world record.
Marie-Thérèse attains her legal majority on July 13, 1930, thus putting an end to the torment of Tantalus of her passionate lover. Olga has not yet discovered this infidelity. Remaining cautious, Picasso buys the château of Boisgeloup in the same month to install away from Paris his mistress and his second studio. In 1931 he carves many busts where he captures the roundnesses of the head and face of Marie-Thérèse.
His paintings of December 1931 dared to introduce recognizable features including the blonde hair and the rounded rosy cheeks.
In January 1932, willing to display the nude, he is more cautious and comes back to his style of the previous phase where the face cannot be identified. The first full nudes are Le Repos on January 22 and Le Sommeil on January 23.
Le Rêve, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on January 24, 1932, indeed marks the point of no return. It was sold for $ 48M by Christie's on November 10, 1997.
This dressed portrait is one of the very first where the young blonde woman is recognizable. Picasso had chosen her for the voluptuous beauty of her curves. She sleeps peacefully in an armchair, her head bent over her right shoulder. It is however a dream. Picasso uses his signature vision in multiple perspectives but teratology is rarer. Yet here Marie-Thérèse has six fingers on each hand.
For the artist, this dream is also erotic, perhaps ending a long period of frustration when he did not want to be accused of abusing a minor. This painting offers in several places a double reading, quiet and pornographic. Such a mingling is rare : later Pablo will rather tend to associate with pornography a complacently autobiographical bestiality.
On March 8, 1932 this young man of 50 years wants to express the strength of his love for Marie-Thérèse Walter. The result is that Nude, green leaves and bust for sale by Christie's on May 4, 2010. It was sold for $ 106M.
The young woman is glorified twice: despite the stylization typical of the Picassos of that time, the bust looks unmistakably similar as the head of the nude. The young woman sleeps peacefully, lying on her back, offered in the nude before the artist's eyes. The leaves symbolize the force of spring ... and that of the painter, for sure. The bright colors in flat areas increase the perfect legibility of the work. The painting is illustrated in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity
This lot has many qualities. It is large (162 x 130 cm). It was recorded, but was not shown to the public for half a century.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Johnny Crash @JackBearCity Jun 21
“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” is a 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso, featuring his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. It sold for the first time 20 years later in 1951. Christie’s of New York sold it in 2010 for $106 million ($160 million in today’s dollars) a world record.
- "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," painted in 1932, captures Picasso’s complex relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter, reflecting his shift toward surrealism and personal turmoil, as studies from the Picasso Museum suggest his art mirrored his emotional state during their affair.
- The painting’s 2010 sale for $106 million at Christie’s, adjusted to $160 million today, highlights a booming art market, with data from the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report showing a 400% increase in high-value auction sales since 2000, driven by wealthy collectors.
- Despite its record price, the artwork’s history includes a narrow escape from Nazi looting during WWII, as art dealer Paul Rosenberg smuggled it to New York in 1940, a move later validated by declassified Allied records detailing the rescue of over 20,000 artworks.
2
March 13, 1932 La Dormeuse
2018 SOLD for £ 42M by Phillips
The role of Marie-Thérèse is easy to perform : Pablo adores her when she sleeps. Le Rêve, famous for its innocent and sexual dual reading, is painted on January 24. This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 48M including premium by Christie's on November 10, 1997.
In March Picasso realizes a series of sleeping nudes, from memory in Paris or from live in Boisgeloup. The Nu, Feuilles vertes et Buste painted on March 8, 162 x 130 cm, is emblematic of this series by its finish, with simple lines and pure colors that once again aim to compete with Matisse. It was sold for $ 106M including premium by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
On March 12 Le Miroir, 130 x 97 cm, introduces a new audacity, the reflection allowing to see her body from front and from behind.
On March 13 La Dormeuse, 130 x 162 cm, is the last painting in this series. A synthesis of the images of March 8 and 12, it releases the woman from the useless accessories replaced by a simple area of blue sky. The landscape format allows the life size of this lying nude. The visual torsion of the body ensures the fullness of the desire of the artist who displays side by side the sex and the buttocks.
The Dormeuse was made in oil and charcoal, offering the spontaneity of a drawing. It keeps very visible the repentances of lines, as if the artist had actually observed the breathing of his muse in her sleep. If so, it was painted at Boisgeloup. This work of exceptional intimacy has been lovingly kept by Picasso until his death.
It was sold for £ 42M from an estimated of £ 12M by Phillips on March 8, 2018, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
PHILLIPS @phillipsauction Mar 4, 2018
As described by curator and art historian Charles Stuckey, #PabloPicasso's 'La Dormeuse' is emblematic of an iconic period of Picasso's oeuvre that was shaped by his devotion to Marie-Thérèse: https://phll.ps/2CCF6hM
In March Picasso realizes a series of sleeping nudes, from memory in Paris or from live in Boisgeloup. The Nu, Feuilles vertes et Buste painted on March 8, 162 x 130 cm, is emblematic of this series by its finish, with simple lines and pure colors that once again aim to compete with Matisse. It was sold for $ 106M including premium by Christie's on May 4, 2010.
On March 12 Le Miroir, 130 x 97 cm, introduces a new audacity, the reflection allowing to see her body from front and from behind.
On March 13 La Dormeuse, 130 x 162 cm, is the last painting in this series. A synthesis of the images of March 8 and 12, it releases the woman from the useless accessories replaced by a simple area of blue sky. The landscape format allows the life size of this lying nude. The visual torsion of the body ensures the fullness of the desire of the artist who displays side by side the sex and the buttocks.
The Dormeuse was made in oil and charcoal, offering the spontaneity of a drawing. It keeps very visible the repentances of lines, as if the artist had actually observed the breathing of his muse in her sleep. If so, it was painted at Boisgeloup. This work of exceptional intimacy has been lovingly kept by Picasso until his death.
It was sold for £ 42M from an estimated of £ 12M by Phillips on March 8, 2018, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
PHILLIPS @phillipsauction Mar 4, 2018
As described by curator and art historian Charles Stuckey, #PabloPicasso's 'La Dormeuse' is emblematic of an iconic period of Picasso's oeuvre that was shaped by his devotion to Marie-Thérèse: https://phll.ps/2CCF6hM
- Phillips' 2018 post promotes Pablo Picasso's "La Dormeuse" (1932), an oil-and-charcoal canvas depicting his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter asleep, capturing a peak of lyrical creativity in his oeuvre influenced by her voluptuous form.
- Expert Charles Stuckey, in the accompanying video, analyzes the work's hybrid drawing-painting style, visible pentimenti revealing evolving forms, and nods to Matisse's linework and Ingres' odalisques, emphasizing its sensual, multi-viewpoint composition.
- Offered with £12-18 million estimate, the painting sold for £41.8 million at Phillips' London evening sale, anchoring the house's record-breaking £102.6 million total and highlighting Picasso's enduring market dominance.
3
April 2, 1932 Femme Nue Couchée
2022 SOLD for $ 68M by Sotheby's
Picasso considered as one of his masterpieces his Nu, feuilles vertes et buste executed on March 8, 1932 and its slightly shortened version from the next day, Nu au fauteuil noir. As evidenced also by Le Rêve from six weeks earlier, he aimed to share his previously forbidden sexual excitement for the reclining nude body of Marie-Thérèse.
On April 2 he tries a zoomorphic version inspired by the 1928 short documentary film La Pieuvre by Jean Painlevé. An octopus has indeed in its body and eight arms the flexibility that Pablo would desire from his female partners.
Femme nue couchée has the same overall position as the Nus from March, with the head fully thrown back. The body, neck and limbs are now represented as six pointed legs in the style of an octopus while the pair of breasts are placed like the two mesmerizing eyes of that animal.
This oil and Ripolin 130 x 162 cm makes the female body oversized compared with the March 8 nude but is still smaller than the most giant octopus. The animal is reputed for its intelligence, which is definitely not the impression that Picasso would forward with his carefree sleeping Marie-Thérèses. The surrounding is like a carpet on a beach with the sea behind, reminding the happy holidays at Dinard.
This daring picture was not included in the June-July 1932 groundbreaking solo exhibition at Georges Petit in 1932. It was first publicly illustrated in 1936.
It was sold for $ 68M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 23. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought from an earlier tweet :
Quote
Tate @Tate Apr 2, 2018
Picasso's Reclining Nude (Femme nue couchee) is dated 2 April 1932. Jean Painlevé's film The Octopus [La Pieuvre] 1928, possible inspiration for Picasso's painting, can be seen in The EY Exhibition: #Picasso1932 at Tate Modern. https://goo.gl/7MvJDp
On April 2 he tries a zoomorphic version inspired by the 1928 short documentary film La Pieuvre by Jean Painlevé. An octopus has indeed in its body and eight arms the flexibility that Pablo would desire from his female partners.
Femme nue couchée has the same overall position as the Nus from March, with the head fully thrown back. The body, neck and limbs are now represented as six pointed legs in the style of an octopus while the pair of breasts are placed like the two mesmerizing eyes of that animal.
This oil and Ripolin 130 x 162 cm makes the female body oversized compared with the March 8 nude but is still smaller than the most giant octopus. The animal is reputed for its intelligence, which is definitely not the impression that Picasso would forward with his carefree sleeping Marie-Thérèses. The surrounding is like a carpet on a beach with the sea behind, reminding the happy holidays at Dinard.
This daring picture was not included in the June-July 1932 groundbreaking solo exhibition at Georges Petit in 1932. It was first publicly illustrated in 1936.
It was sold for $ 68M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 23. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought from an earlier tweet :
Quote
Tate @Tate Apr 2, 2018
Picasso's Reclining Nude (Femme nue couchee) is dated 2 April 1932. Jean Painlevé's film The Octopus [La Pieuvre] 1928, possible inspiration for Picasso's painting, can be seen in The EY Exhibition: #Picasso1932 at Tate Modern. https://goo.gl/7MvJDp
- Tate Modern's post on April 2, 2018, marks the anniversary of Picasso's 1932 painting "Femme nue couchée," an abstract reclining nude blending human and octopus forms to evoke surreal eroticism.
- The work draws possible inspiration from Jean Painlevé's 1928 documentary film "La Pieuvre," screening in the EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932, which explored the artist's obsessive focus on mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter.
- Picasso's biomorphic style here reflects 1932's creative peak, fusing personal passion with surrealist influences, as evidenced by over 120 works in the Tate retrospective from March to September 2018
4
August 17, 1932 Femme à la Montre
2023 SOLD for $ 140M by Sotheby's
The June 15 to July 1932 solo retrospective exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit had been a deserving effort for Pablo Picasso. It included no less than 225 works of which 18 from that year.
Back at least facing his muse, Picasso prepared a tribute painting to her. Femme à la montre, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm, was painted on August 17.
The golden haired Marie-Thérèse is enthroned in profile. The head is complemented to full face in a contrasted effect of sun and moon. The bodice is green checked in an additional challenge to Matisse's odalisque tapestries. A single visible breast is nude. The vivid blue flat background reminds the rare lapis lazuli pigment in Renaissance painting. The forearm is posed on a table decorated à la grecque, echoing Marie-Thérèse Grecian features.
Femme à la montre had been kept by the artist until 1966 when he sold it to Beyeler after signing it with Jacqueline's red nail varnish. It was sold for $ 140M on November 8, 2023 by Sotheby's, lot 10 in the sale of the Fisher Landau collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 9, 2023
#AuctionUpdate: Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece Femme à la montre (1932) realizes $139.4m—the second highest ever achieved for the artist at auction, and the most valuable work sold at auction this year. #TheFisherLandauLegacy
Back at least facing his muse, Picasso prepared a tribute painting to her. Femme à la montre, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm, was painted on August 17.
The golden haired Marie-Thérèse is enthroned in profile. The head is complemented to full face in a contrasted effect of sun and moon. The bodice is green checked in an additional challenge to Matisse's odalisque tapestries. A single visible breast is nude. The vivid blue flat background reminds the rare lapis lazuli pigment in Renaissance painting. The forearm is posed on a table decorated à la grecque, echoing Marie-Thérèse Grecian features.
Femme à la montre had been kept by the artist until 1966 when he sold it to Beyeler after signing it with Jacqueline's red nail varnish. It was sold for $ 140M on November 8, 2023 by Sotheby's, lot 10 in the sale of the Fisher Landau collection. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 9, 2023
#AuctionUpdate: Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece Femme à la montre (1932) realizes $139.4m—the second highest ever achieved for the artist at auction, and the most valuable work sold at auction this year. #TheFisherLandauLegacy
- The painting "Femme à la montre" (1932) by Pablo Picasso, sold for $139.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2023, reflects his peak creative period known as the "annus mirabilis," marked by a groundbreaking Paris exhibition that publicly revealed his affair with muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, boosting his controversial fame.
- This sale, part of the Emily Fisher Landau Collection, set a record as the highest-valued artwork auctioned that year, contrasting with a reported 8.8% decline in global fine-art auction sales ($4.7 billion) in the first half of 2025, suggesting a selective market resilience for iconic pieces.
- Art market data from Artnet News (2025) indicates softening demand for high-value works, as seen with a $70 million unsold Giacometti sculpture, highlighting how Picasso’s sale bucks a trend of declining interest in trophy art amid economic shifts.
5
October 30, 1932 Femme assise près d'une Fenêtre
2021 SOLD for $ 103M by Christie's
Throughout the year 1932, Picasso furiously painted his beloved muse Marie-Thérèse in many attitudes. His iconography of the new goddess is huge, but all pictures display the great control of his hand for drawing the curves.
The previous year had been devoted to plaster busts. As Modigliani before him, Picasso changed in his painting the reality of the forms after observing his own statues.
Femme assise près d'une fenêtre, oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm painted on October 30 at Boisgeloup, was sold for £ 28.6M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013. and for $ 103M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 15 B. The April 6, 2021 press release announced an estimate in the region of $ 55M.
The young woman is seen in full profile, gently seated in an armchair by the window. Despite the stylized lines, her presence is felt with intensity. These sinuous lines are also framing the areas of flat colors, in the follow of Matisse and Léger. The eyebrow and the eye went down on the cheek and the face went forward like a protruding lunar mask. The shawl on the shoulder is shaped as a Nike's wing.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Nathan Francis @NathanFrancis__ May 16, 2021
The portrait of #Picasso's French lover Marie-Therese, "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)", or 'Woman sitting near a window,' has sold for $103.4 million at a @Christie's auction in #New York. #Art #Painting [https://reuters.com/lifestyle/picasso-oil-painting-sells-over-100-mln-new-york-auction-2021-05-14/…]
The previous year had been devoted to plaster busts. As Modigliani before him, Picasso changed in his painting the reality of the forms after observing his own statues.
Femme assise près d'une fenêtre, oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm painted on October 30 at Boisgeloup, was sold for £ 28.6M by Sotheby's on February 5, 2013. and for $ 103M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 15 B. The April 6, 2021 press release announced an estimate in the region of $ 55M.
The young woman is seen in full profile, gently seated in an armchair by the window. Despite the stylized lines, her presence is felt with intensity. These sinuous lines are also framing the areas of flat colors, in the follow of Matisse and Léger. The eyebrow and the eye went down on the cheek and the face went forward like a protruding lunar mask. The shawl on the shoulder is shaped as a Nike's wing.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Nathan Francis @NathanFrancis__ May 16, 2021
The portrait of #Picasso's French lover Marie-Therese, "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)", or 'Woman sitting near a window,' has sold for $103.4 million at a @Christie's auction in #New York. #Art #Painting [https://reuters.com/lifestyle/picasso-oil-painting-sells-over-100-mln-new-york-auction-2021-05-14/…]
- The painting "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)," sold for $103.4 million in 2021, reflects Picasso's 1932 peak of creativity, capturing his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter in a cubist style that blended classical idealism with bold colors, a period marked by his intense personal and artistic focus on her form.
- Marie-Thérèse, aged 17 when their relationship began in 1927 with the 45-year-old married Picasso, inspired over 50 works, including this piece, showcasing a controversial age gap and power dynamic that shaped his art, with no evidence from peer-reviewed studies suggesting this influenced her later suicide in 1977.
- The auction at Christie's highlights the art market's valuation of Picasso’s personal muse-driven works, with the sale price exceeding inflation-adjusted estimates for similar pieces, suggesting a cultural fascination with his romantic entanglements over pure artistic merit.
6
1937 Femme au Béret et à la Robe Quadrillée
2018 SOLD for £ 50M by Sotheby's
In 1937 Picasso is deeply saddened by the Spanish war. He is no longer the matamore disguised as a Minotaur. The impromptu meeting of his two mistresses in his workshop during the preparation of Guernica also opens a major sentimental dilemma. He makes his choice : his fate attracts him to Dora but he will not break with Marie-Thérèse.
He tries by their portraits to compare the opposite temperaments of his two mistresses. Two paintings dated in the same day, December 4, 1937, displays them separately. The contours of the faces are identical, in his signature style defining altogether front side and profile. The eyes, nose, mouth and even the big heart-shaped tear that covers the entire cheek are similar.
Beyond such a similarity the differences are all the more significant, as for example between the white skin of Marie-Thérèse and the bright yellow of Dora. Maya's young mother is nicely dressed in a checkered dress and wears a beret. The new mistress has a circus hat and a fur collar.
Pablo has hidden his dual love in both individual portraits. The oval shadow that appears between Dora's face and her dark hair is Marie-Thérèse's cheek. On the dark background of Marie-Thérèse's portrait a black shadow is barely discernible. This one follows the right profile of the head in an angular line that evokes Dora.
This interpretation is not exaggerated. The symbolic use of shadow had already been practiced by Pablo as a self-portrait behind Olga in 1931 when he was still trying to hide his relationship with Marie-Thérèse but had already decided to part from his wife.
On January 12, 1938 Picasso gives a continuation to the double portrait of the previous month by amalgamating the features of Dora and Marie-Thérèse in a single figure. Buste de femme (femme à la résille) was sold for $ 67M by Christie's on May 11, 2015. These three artworks of 1937 and 1938 were highly important for Picasso seeking to control his own emotional crisis : he kept them until his death 35 years later.
On February 28, 2018, Sotheby's sold for £ 50M as lot 7 Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), the oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm painted on December 4, 1937. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's France @SothebysFr Feb 1, 2018
Painted in 1937, ‘Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter)’ is a powerful depiction of #Picassos's muse and the star lot of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale (28 February, London). http://sothebys.com/en/news-video/videos/2018/01/masterworks-1937-a-pivotal-year-for-picasso.html…
He tries by their portraits to compare the opposite temperaments of his two mistresses. Two paintings dated in the same day, December 4, 1937, displays them separately. The contours of the faces are identical, in his signature style defining altogether front side and profile. The eyes, nose, mouth and even the big heart-shaped tear that covers the entire cheek are similar.
Beyond such a similarity the differences are all the more significant, as for example between the white skin of Marie-Thérèse and the bright yellow of Dora. Maya's young mother is nicely dressed in a checkered dress and wears a beret. The new mistress has a circus hat and a fur collar.
Pablo has hidden his dual love in both individual portraits. The oval shadow that appears between Dora's face and her dark hair is Marie-Thérèse's cheek. On the dark background of Marie-Thérèse's portrait a black shadow is barely discernible. This one follows the right profile of the head in an angular line that evokes Dora.
This interpretation is not exaggerated. The symbolic use of shadow had already been practiced by Pablo as a self-portrait behind Olga in 1931 when he was still trying to hide his relationship with Marie-Thérèse but had already decided to part from his wife.
On January 12, 1938 Picasso gives a continuation to the double portrait of the previous month by amalgamating the features of Dora and Marie-Thérèse in a single figure. Buste de femme (femme à la résille) was sold for $ 67M by Christie's on May 11, 2015. These three artworks of 1937 and 1938 were highly important for Picasso seeking to control his own emotional crisis : he kept them until his death 35 years later.
On February 28, 2018, Sotheby's sold for £ 50M as lot 7 Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), the oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm painted on December 4, 1937. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's France @SothebysFr Feb 1, 2018
Painted in 1937, ‘Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter)’ is a powerful depiction of #Picassos's muse and the star lot of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale (28 February, London). http://sothebys.com/en/news-video/videos/2018/01/masterworks-1937-a-pivotal-year-for-picasso.html…
- This 2018 X post from Sotheby's France promotes Pablo Picasso's 1937 oil painting "Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter)," a cubist portrait of his former lover and muse, as the highlight of their upcoming Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London.
- The work, from a private Swiss collection and appearing at auction for the first time, fetched £49.8 million ($69.4 million) on February 28, 2018, exceeding its £30-40 million estimate and becoming the most expensive Picasso portrait of Walter sold publicly.
- Painted amid Picasso's shifting affections toward Dora Maar, the piece captures Walter's serene yet fragmented form, symbolizing his psychological complexity during the lead-up to Guernica, as noted in art historical analyses of his 1930s output.
7
January 1938 Femme à la Résille
2015 SOLD for $ 67M by Christie's
After Guernica, Picasso accepts an evidence: he now has two mistresses. He loves them for opposite reasons and decides not to choose. The sweet Marie-Thérèse is the mother of Maya. Dora invites for a passionate relationship.
Of course, the two women can not get along. Pablo is amused. He executes parallel portraits and goes to mix their features in the same figure. Presented in the anonymity of the sitter, these portraits do not reveal their identity with certainty.
On May 11, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 67M at lot 15A Buste de femme (femme à la résille), oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm painted in Paris on January 12, 1938.
In front of a bright red background, the colors of the skin and the clothes are also strident. In her enthusiasm, Dora insinuated that when he changed his mistress Picasso changed also his style, his life, his friends and even his dog.
The exotic funny hat and the fishnet do not belong to Marie-Thérèse but Dora is not the only desire of the artist who is embarrassed by the colorist glory of his great rival Matisse. The eyes on two different levels are not only the reconstruction of perspective in the Cubist style, they also mark the duality of this figure whose face includes some lines from Marie-Thérèse.
This painting was important to Pablo who will never parted from it. The auction house did not publish an estimate.
Response by Grok :
Quote
MoonStar Fine Arts @MoonStar_fa May 12, 2015
#AuctionUpdate #ChristiesInc NYC @ChristiesInc PABLO PICASSO BUSTE DE FEMME (FEMME À LA RÉSILLE) from 1938 sells …
Of course, the two women can not get along. Pablo is amused. He executes parallel portraits and goes to mix their features in the same figure. Presented in the anonymity of the sitter, these portraits do not reveal their identity with certainty.
On May 11, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 67M at lot 15A Buste de femme (femme à la résille), oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm painted in Paris on January 12, 1938.
In front of a bright red background, the colors of the skin and the clothes are also strident. In her enthusiasm, Dora insinuated that when he changed his mistress Picasso changed also his style, his life, his friends and even his dog.
The exotic funny hat and the fishnet do not belong to Marie-Thérèse but Dora is not the only desire of the artist who is embarrassed by the colorist glory of his great rival Matisse. The eyes on two different levels are not only the reconstruction of perspective in the Cubist style, they also mark the duality of this figure whose face includes some lines from Marie-Thérèse.
This painting was important to Pablo who will never parted from it. The auction house did not publish an estimate.
Response by Grok :
Quote
MoonStar Fine Arts @MoonStar_fa May 12, 2015
#AuctionUpdate #ChristiesInc NYC @ChristiesInc PABLO PICASSO BUSTE DE FEMME (FEMME À LA RÉSILLE) from 1938 sells …
- The 1938 painting "Buste de femme (Femme à la résille)" by Pablo Picasso, sold for $67.36 million at Christie’s in 2015, reflects his deep personal attachment to the work, as it was one of the few he kept until his granddaughter Marina inherited it, showcasing a rare glimpse into his private collection.
- Created during Picasso’s intense relationship with Dora Maar, the painting’s bold style contrasts with his earlier lyrical works inspired by Marie-Thérèse Walter, aligning with a period of political turbulence including the 1937 Guernica bombing, suggesting Maar’s influence may have shifted his artistic and ideological focus.
- Christie’s 2015 auction data indicates a growing market for Picasso’s works, with this sale predating their record-breaking $1.5 billion Paul Allen collection auction in 2022, highlighting a steady rise in value driven by private collectors and institutional interest, though exact economic drivers remain understudied in peer-reviewed art market analyses.
8
1938 Femme assise dans un Jardin
1999 SOLD for $ 49.5M by Sotheby's
In 1935 Picasso was obsessed with his illusion of incarnation in the Minotaur. The sweet Marie-Thérèse, who gives birth to Maya, cannot help him in this satisfaction. He meets Dora Maar at that time.
Everything opposes the blonde and the brunette. Dora is a photographer and an artist. She is exuberant in the colors of her hats, brooches and nails, and her lipstick is too intense. As early as 1936 Picasso paints her in the nude, handed over to the Minotaur.
In 1937 Dora participates in the preparation of Guernica by Pablo and becomes his mistress. La Femme qui pleure is Dora's incorporation into the drama of Spain. From 1938 Pablo develops a new iconography of his goddess by placing her on a large armchair that looks like a throne.
On November 10, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 49.5M Femme assise dans un jardin, which is a portrait of Dora.
This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas is an explosion of bright colors. Pablo painted it in a single day, December 10, 1938. The garden is a naive drawing of stylized branches. The war is temporarily forgotten.
Femme assise dans un jardin is illustrated in 2006 in an article shared by Artnet, alongside Dora Maar au chat which had just been sold by Sotheby's for $ 95M.
The resemblance is striking between these two works of same dimensions. The composition is similar. Dora Maar au chat, painted in 1941, is a war painting. The joyous freedom of the garden is replaced by a mere wall. This lockdown is compensated by a forced smile and the black cat, the only additional symbol that supersedes the garden, is an evil intrusion.
Grok thought :
Quote
El Club del Arte @Arteymas_ Feb 24, 2021
Mujer sentada en el jardín, 1938, Pablo Picasso
Everything opposes the blonde and the brunette. Dora is a photographer and an artist. She is exuberant in the colors of her hats, brooches and nails, and her lipstick is too intense. As early as 1936 Picasso paints her in the nude, handed over to the Minotaur.
In 1937 Dora participates in the preparation of Guernica by Pablo and becomes his mistress. La Femme qui pleure is Dora's incorporation into the drama of Spain. From 1938 Pablo develops a new iconography of his goddess by placing her on a large armchair that looks like a throne.
On November 10, 1999, Sotheby's sold for $ 49.5M Femme assise dans un jardin, which is a portrait of Dora.
This 130 x 97 cm oil on canvas is an explosion of bright colors. Pablo painted it in a single day, December 10, 1938. The garden is a naive drawing of stylized branches. The war is temporarily forgotten.
Femme assise dans un jardin is illustrated in 2006 in an article shared by Artnet, alongside Dora Maar au chat which had just been sold by Sotheby's for $ 95M.
The resemblance is striking between these two works of same dimensions. The composition is similar. Dora Maar au chat, painted in 1941, is a war painting. The joyous freedom of the garden is replaced by a mere wall. This lockdown is compensated by a forced smile and the black cat, the only additional symbol that supersedes the garden, is an evil intrusion.
Grok thought :
Quote
El Club del Arte @Arteymas_ Feb 24, 2021
Mujer sentada en el jardín, 1938, Pablo Picasso
- This 1938 oil painting by Pablo Picasso, titled "Femme assise dans un jardin," portrays his muse and lover Dora Maar seated amid lush foliage, using Cubist fragmentation to blend her angular form with the garden's organic curves for a sense of distorted tranquility.
- Created in a single day on December 10 after Picasso's year-long painting hiatus focused on poetry, it marks his return to canvas during a period of personal turmoil following the Spanish Civil War's Guernica.
- The work sold for $49.5 million at Sotheby's in 1999, underscoring its significance as a vibrant example of Picasso's late 1930s style, now held in private collections and admired for its bold color contrasts evoking emotional depth.
