Picasso from 1940
See also : Top 10 Picasso Spain Painting Bust and mask The Woman Man and woman Children Groups Nude Music and dance Orientalism Tabletop and still life
Calendar : 20th century 1940-1949 1950-1959 1950 1954 1955 1967 1969 1970
Calendar : 20th century 1940-1949 1950-1959 1950 1954 1955 1967 1969 1970
1941 Dora Maar au Chat by Picasso
2006 SOLD 95 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1941 Tête de Femme (Dora Maar) by Picasso
2007 SOLD for $ 29M including premium by Sotheby's
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1941 Dora Maar without the Cat
2012 SOLD 29 M$ including premium
On May 3, 2006, Sotheby's sold an oil on canvas by Picasso, 130 x 97 cm, at a price incredibly high for the time, $ 95M including premium. This was the end for the torrid Picasso: this painting shows a woman of indeterminate age, with hairdressing and cloth like an old woman, quietly sitting in an armchair.
This is war time, in 1941. Pablo at 60 is no longer the ebullient lover of Marie-Thérèse and Dora is no longer the Weeping Woman of Guernica. Dora Maar au chat smiled gently, her mouth brightening the unstructured face, it is a masterpiece of intimate art. The cat, incongruous because too small, probably symbolizes the calm now reigning at home.
Painted in the same year, also with saturated colors, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, is clearly the same woman as Dora au chat although she is not named. This oil on canvas is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 2. Here is the link to the catalog.
ADDENDUM before sale :
Read the story discussed yesterday by Bloomberg concerning the condition of this painting, recently damaged and repaired.
POST SALE COMMENT
It had been puzzling. A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism.
This painting could not approach the price of Dora Maar au Chat, of larger size. Taking into account all these considerations, the price, $ 29M including premium, is very satisfactory.
This is war time, in 1941. Pablo at 60 is no longer the ebullient lover of Marie-Thérèse and Dora is no longer the Weeping Woman of Guernica. Dora Maar au chat smiled gently, her mouth brightening the unstructured face, it is a masterpiece of intimate art. The cat, incongruous because too small, probably symbolizes the calm now reigning at home.
Painted in the same year, also with saturated colors, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 92 x 73 cm, is clearly the same woman as Dora au chat although she is not named. This oil on canvas is estimated $ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 2. Here is the link to the catalog.
ADDENDUM before sale :
Read the story discussed yesterday by Bloomberg concerning the condition of this painting, recently damaged and repaired.
POST SALE COMMENT
It had been puzzling. A few hours before the sale, the specialized press announced that the painting had been damaged some years ago, and that the conflict between the parties was still open. Sotheby's confirmed the story, indicating that the repair was made with the utmost professionalism.
This painting could not approach the price of Dora Maar au Chat, of larger size. Taking into account all these considerations, the price, $ 29M including premium, is very satisfactory.
1942 The Goddess with a Hound Nose
2014 SOLD 22.6 M$ including premium
Dora Maar succeeded Marie-Thérèse Walter in the heart of Picasso during one of the worst periods in the history of the twentieth century. During the Spanish Civil War, Pablo saw in her the Weeping Woman. Despair caused by the Second World War once again changed the image of Dora.
In 1941, Dora is an Enthroned Madonna. Stiff and impassive, she presides over the tragic events from her high armchair. The kitten on the top bar of the seat finds that this goddess is not hostile, but it is a black cat. Dora Maar au Chat, 128 x 95 cm, was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on 3 May 2006.
Months pass and Europe plunges deeper into war. On May 6 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on panel painted by Pablo on August 5, 1942, 100 x 80 cm, estimated $ 25M.
This is undoubtedly a new portrait of Dora, identifiable by her seat and her tricorn hat. Pablo deliberately deconstructed her face with a savagery generated by the accumulation of his anxieties.
For Marie-Thérèse and for the beginnings of Dora, the offset position of the eyes had been an impulse of the artist expressing his adoration through a Cubist research of the third dimension. The elephantine nose in profile of the new portrait cannot have a similar cause and also has a complex interpretation.
It is a semaphore warning of the dangers of war. It is also the long thin nose of Pablo's Afghan hound, his other favorite model at that time. If its shape generates a phallic interpretation, this war painting becomes the tragic echo of Le Rêve of Marie-Thérèse, that ultimate expression of happiness painted by Pablo on January 24, 1932.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Dora's war nose did not generate excessive passions. This painting was sold for $ 22.6 million including premium, well below its estimate.
In 1941, Dora is an Enthroned Madonna. Stiff and impassive, she presides over the tragic events from her high armchair. The kitten on the top bar of the seat finds that this goddess is not hostile, but it is a black cat. Dora Maar au Chat, 128 x 95 cm, was sold for $ 95M including premium by Sotheby's on 3 May 2006.
Months pass and Europe plunges deeper into war. On May 6 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on panel painted by Pablo on August 5, 1942, 100 x 80 cm, estimated $ 25M.
This is undoubtedly a new portrait of Dora, identifiable by her seat and her tricorn hat. Pablo deliberately deconstructed her face with a savagery generated by the accumulation of his anxieties.
For Marie-Thérèse and for the beginnings of Dora, the offset position of the eyes had been an impulse of the artist expressing his adoration through a Cubist research of the third dimension. The elephantine nose in profile of the new portrait cannot have a similar cause and also has a complex interpretation.
It is a semaphore warning of the dangers of war. It is also the long thin nose of Pablo's Afghan hound, his other favorite model at that time. If its shape generates a phallic interpretation, this war painting becomes the tragic echo of Le Rêve of Marie-Thérèse, that ultimate expression of happiness painted by Pablo on January 24, 1932.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Dora's war nose did not generate excessive passions. This painting was sold for $ 22.6 million including premium, well below its estimate.
1944 Study of a Tomato Plant
2017 SOLD for £ 17M including premium
Picasso did not want to leave Paris during the German Occupation. Times are hard. The Germans do not forgive his interpretation of Guernica and a decree forbids to exhibit his art. Pablo devotes most of his work to still life which has a lower risk of retaliation and confiscation.
Liberation is approaching and violence is increasing. In early August 1944 Pablo left his studio in the Quartier Latin which had become too dangerous and spent several days in the apartment of the Ile Saint-Louis occupied by his former mistress Marie-Thérèse with their daughter Maya.
Pablo has no heart to pleasure. He looks at a tomato plant in front of the window. Easy to grow with little soil, water and sunlight, the tomato offers a limited complement of food in addition to the strict rationing. It mostly offers an illusion of initiative and freedom in this stifling time.
Pablo painted a simultaneous series of oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm on that theme. The more or less ripe tomatoes and the rich or weak foliage are not a naturalistic picture of Marie-Thérèse's plant but express the feelings of the Parisians at that time of undecided future. A gloomy version dated August 10 was sold for $ 13.5M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells the optimistic version, dated 6 August 1944. The heavy fruits soon to be picked bend the branches in a harmoniously centered composition. This painting is estimated £ 10M, lot 8.
Liberation is approaching and violence is increasing. In early August 1944 Pablo left his studio in the Quartier Latin which had become too dangerous and spent several days in the apartment of the Ile Saint-Louis occupied by his former mistress Marie-Thérèse with their daughter Maya.
Pablo has no heart to pleasure. He looks at a tomato plant in front of the window. Easy to grow with little soil, water and sunlight, the tomato offers a limited complement of food in addition to the strict rationing. It mostly offers an illusion of initiative and freedom in this stifling time.
Pablo painted a simultaneous series of oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm on that theme. The more or less ripe tomatoes and the rich or weak foliage are not a naturalistic picture of Marie-Thérèse's plant but express the feelings of the Parisians at that time of undecided future. A gloomy version dated August 10 was sold for $ 13.5M including premium by Christie's on November 8, 2006.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells the optimistic version, dated 6 August 1944. The heavy fruits soon to be picked bend the branches in a harmoniously centered composition. This painting is estimated £ 10M, lot 8.
1950 Claude et Paloma by Picasso
2013 SOLD for $ 28M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1954 The Muses of Vallauris
2017 SOLD for $ 37M including premium
Françoise left in September 1953 with the two children, Claude and Paloma. A distraught Picasso is looking for a new muse in Vallauris. In April 1954 he sees Sylvette with her long blonde ponytail. The shy 19 years old agrees to meet the artist but fears his flirtation.
Pablo already knew the brunette Jacqueline who has a job at Madoura. She accepts to live with him. In June Pablo paints his first portraits of Jacqueline. She is 28 years old and Picasso 45 more. They will not leave each other and will marry in Vallauris in 1961.
On October 8, 1954 Pablo paints three oils on canvas in a single size, 146 x 114 cm. Jacqueline in long dress is sitting on the floor in an interior, knees raised straight in front of her.
In these three pictures painted shortly before the death of Matisse, Pablo wants to demonstrate his skill as a colorist. It is sunny in Vallauris and the blue sky behind the window provides a bright atmosphere. Realism and proportions are not considered : the artist uses his signature style of simultaneous vision of the two profiles of the sitter and the limbs are too frail.
One of the three paintings is at the Museo Picasso in Malaga. Another one was sold for £ 7.4M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017 ; the position of the black hair in the flattened oval of the head is incongruous. The third painting displays a better designed geometry. It is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 39 A. Please watch the videoshared by Christie's.
Pablo already knew the brunette Jacqueline who has a job at Madoura. She accepts to live with him. In June Pablo paints his first portraits of Jacqueline. She is 28 years old and Picasso 45 more. They will not leave each other and will marry in Vallauris in 1961.
On October 8, 1954 Pablo paints three oils on canvas in a single size, 146 x 114 cm. Jacqueline in long dress is sitting on the floor in an interior, knees raised straight in front of her.
In these three pictures painted shortly before the death of Matisse, Pablo wants to demonstrate his skill as a colorist. It is sunny in Vallauris and the blue sky behind the window provides a bright atmosphere. Realism and proportions are not considered : the artist uses his signature style of simultaneous vision of the two profiles of the sitter and the limbs are too frail.
One of the three paintings is at the Museo Picasso in Malaga. Another one was sold for £ 7.4M including premium by Sotheby's on June 21, 2017 ; the position of the black hair in the flattened oval of the head is incongruous. The third painting displays a better designed geometry. It is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 13, lot 39 A. Please watch the videoshared by Christie's.
1955 The Homage by Picasso to his own Art
2015 SOLD for $ 180M including premium
The Femmes d'Alger by Delacroix, by inspiring Picasso, had a role in the genesis of modern painting. Executed in Paris in 1907, the painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon shows a group of women. Unlike in Delacroix, they are naked. They are not in the hot atmosphere of a harem but their offering is venal.
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
It is difficult to recognize the influence of Delacroix upon the Demoiselles because the tribal art that inspired the deconstruction of forms is the real origin of Cubism. Other influences have also been identified for this painting which is one of the most important breakthroughs of Western art : el Greco, Cézanne, Gauguin.
Matisse died in 1954. His Odalisques were famous. Picasso had not used this theme which exacerbated the colors and he was somehow jealous of his late friend. He disguises Jacqueline but this is not enough to equal the glory of his rival. To resume his place in the history of art, he resuscitates the Femmes d'Alger in a series of fifteen paintings numbered A to O.
The series is an imitation of the styles of Picasso's career starting from his invention of Cubism. The latest version, O, oil on canvas 114 x 146 cm achieved on 14 February 1955, appears as a synthesis of this rather disparate set, like the ultimate completion of Pablo's art on that date.
It takes much imagination to see Delacroix's influence in the Version O, but the comparison with the Demoiselles is obvious. The women are naked or half dressed but in a later cubism style that excites the imagination by blurring the vision. The standing woman on the left displays a much better readability that joins the then recent art of Pablo.
Pablo has always enjoyed to confront himself with the great masters. The large mirror anticipates his series of Las Meninas painted two years later.
Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger was sold for $ 32M including premium by Christie's on 10 November 1997. It is for sale on May 11 at Christie's in New York, lot 8A. The press release of March 25 indicates an estimate in the region of $ 140M.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1955 The Year of the Femmes d'Alger
2014 SOLD 17 M£ including premium
Matisse's death in November 1954 deprives Picasso of a friend with whom he liked to compare his ideas about the essentials of art. Little interested so far by Orientalism, Pablo begins on December 13 his series of fifteen paintings titled Les Femmes d'Alger.
The theme is ostensibly following Delacroix but Picasso leaves no doubt about his real intention by declaring not without humor that he got the legacy of Matisse's odalisques. Remind that Les Femmes d'Alger is a project probably unique in the history of art where the artist carefully imitated several styles used by himself during his long career.
A new series of paintings beginning on November 19, 1955 combines this orientalist fantasy with the exploration of the face and body of his new muse Jacqueline Roque, shown in clothes and attitudes of a Turkish harem from Pablo's imagination. The style resumes the normal course of evolution of Picasso's art.
On February 4 in London , Christie's sells the half length portrait in an armchair, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on 20 November 1955, where Jacqueline is adorned with multicolored turban and vest. Her face is almost realistic. This artwork is estimated £ 15M.
Another oil on canvas of the same series, 116 x 89 cm, dated 26 November 1955 was sold for $ 31M including premium at Christie's on November 6, 2007. Drawing the attention to the body rather than to the face, this figure is more erotic.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious. The result, £ 17M including premium is only 10% below the erotic painting sold in 2007.
The theme is ostensibly following Delacroix but Picasso leaves no doubt about his real intention by declaring not without humor that he got the legacy of Matisse's odalisques. Remind that Les Femmes d'Alger is a project probably unique in the history of art where the artist carefully imitated several styles used by himself during his long career.
A new series of paintings beginning on November 19, 1955 combines this orientalist fantasy with the exploration of the face and body of his new muse Jacqueline Roque, shown in clothes and attitudes of a Turkish harem from Pablo's imagination. The style resumes the normal course of evolution of Picasso's art.
On February 4 in London , Christie's sells the half length portrait in an armchair, oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm painted on 20 November 1955, where Jacqueline is adorned with multicolored turban and vest. Her face is almost realistic. This artwork is estimated £ 15M.
Another oil on canvas of the same series, 116 x 89 cm, dated 26 November 1955 was sold for $ 31M including premium at Christie's on November 6, 2007. Drawing the attention to the body rather than to the face, this figure is more erotic.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was ambitious. The result, £ 17M including premium is only 10% below the erotic painting sold in 2007.
1955 Picasso revisiting the Women of Algiers
2011 SOLD 21.3 M$ including premium
The series of the Femmes d'Alger painted by Picasso between December 13, 1954 and February 14, 1955 does not belong to one single phase of the art of the master, but to many. Taking as a pretext Delacroix's painting, he produced 15 variations, very different from one another, numbered A to O.
It is likely that Picasso, just after the death of Matisse, wanted to conduct a parallel study of art history and of his personal contributions. Some are in color, others in grisaille (a term also used in its French version in English texts).
Five of them remained in the Ganz collection until the death of the collector. The version O, 114 x 146 cm, which can be considered as the culmination of the group, was sold for $ 32M including premium at Christie's on November 10, 1997.
Ganz had bought all the series to Kahnweiler but the version L which will be sold by Christie's in New York on May 4 is one of the ten versions he soon put back on the market.
It is a grisaille, 130 x 97 cm, dated February 9, 1955. The topic, centered on a figure of dominatrix woman, is executed in the manner of the experimental years of Cubism before the First World War. The cumulated experience of Picasso makes this painting a luminous work that exceeds in this respect many early Cubist paintings of the master.
Picasso's exegetes will try a comparison with the Demoiselles d'Avignon, but it is recommended to keep a cool head and to remember that Ganz did not select the version L. The estimate, $ 20M, is ambitious.
POST SALE COMMENT
I was not really convinced that this work was major. In these circumstances, I consider that the result, $ 21.3 million including premium, is excellent.
It is likely that Picasso, just after the death of Matisse, wanted to conduct a parallel study of art history and of his personal contributions. Some are in color, others in grisaille (a term also used in its French version in English texts).
Five of them remained in the Ganz collection until the death of the collector. The version O, 114 x 146 cm, which can be considered as the culmination of the group, was sold for $ 32M including premium at Christie's on November 10, 1997.
Ganz had bought all the series to Kahnweiler but the version L which will be sold by Christie's in New York on May 4 is one of the ten versions he soon put back on the market.
It is a grisaille, 130 x 97 cm, dated February 9, 1955. The topic, centered on a figure of dominatrix woman, is executed in the manner of the experimental years of Cubism before the First World War. The cumulated experience of Picasso makes this painting a luminous work that exceeds in this respect many early Cubist paintings of the master.
Picasso's exegetes will try a comparison with the Demoiselles d'Avignon, but it is recommended to keep a cool head and to remember that Ganz did not select the version L. The estimate, $ 20M, is ambitious.
POST SALE COMMENT
I was not really convinced that this work was major. In these circumstances, I consider that the result, $ 21.3 million including premium, is excellent.
1967 Musical Waking with Picasso
2011 SOLD 23 M$ including premium
Since the Middle Ages, music accompanies the joy of living in love. In the morning, the musician is enchanting the lovers with the aubade. In the evening, he concludes the day with the serenade.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
Jacqueline Picasso, naked, is still in bed. Beside her, a fiery bearded Faun plays the flute, symbolic instrument of original music. The hirsute character is her husband, Pablo, who is both the musician and the lover of this aubade.
Jacqueline is in ecstasy, both eyes wide open. On this oil on canvas 130 x 195 cm painted in 1967, the woman's face is barely cubist, but one of her cheeks is distorted as if it were drawn by the flute.
Picasso, then 86 years old, wanted to stay young forever and continue to enjoy the sensory pleasures. The friendly side of this otherwise exuberant work is the gift of music to the beloved.
This painting is estimated $ 18M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
This artwork is outstanding when considering its period in the life of Picasso. It marks the ridiculous and inevitable conflict between sexuality and aging. It was sold $ 23M including premium.
1969 Mousquetaire à la pipe by Picasso
2013 SOLD for $ 31M including premium by Sotheby's
1969 Incoming of Mosqueteros into Modern Art
2015 SOLD for $ 22.6M including premium
In 1966, Pablo Picasso is recovering. Despite his fragile health, the artist has kept his frenzy of creation, but his relationship to the world has changed. He no longer travels and is afraid of being jostled by a crowd.
His Musketeers are an offshoot of the masculinity that still excites the old man, but it is difficult to regard them as self-portraits. They are instead his companions of adventures. The temperament of the male transcends time: Picasso compares the soldiers from Rembrandt's time with the hippies of the sexual revolution.
The art of Picasso becomes a wink of complicity with youth. For the first time, his theme is decidedly humorous. The French boys, always fans of Alexandre Dumas, are delighted. They do not consider the dominant red and gold of these paintings that also mark the artist's refusal to return to Franco's Spain. Art critics are skeptical, except Zervos.
Pablo combines his own styles within that series as he has done since the early 1930s. A decidedly cubist Mousquetaire à la pipe, oil on canvas 195 x 130 cm painted on March 5, 1969, was sold for $ 31M including premium by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 12M.
L'Homme à l'épée, oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm painted on July 25, 1969 during the preparation of the Woodstock festival, is undoubtedly a hidalgo. He is a bodyguard of the old artist in his approach to the new world. The face that is only slightly deformed outside the aggressive gaze is perhaps a tribute to Velazquez. On the following year, Picasso approves the choice of this picture for the poster of the exhibition of his most recent art in Avignon.
L'Homme à l'épée was sold for £ 7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 24, 2009. It is for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 20A, with a minimum price guarantee which was not disclosed, as usual in such a case.
His Musketeers are an offshoot of the masculinity that still excites the old man, but it is difficult to regard them as self-portraits. They are instead his companions of adventures. The temperament of the male transcends time: Picasso compares the soldiers from Rembrandt's time with the hippies of the sexual revolution.
The art of Picasso becomes a wink of complicity with youth. For the first time, his theme is decidedly humorous. The French boys, always fans of Alexandre Dumas, are delighted. They do not consider the dominant red and gold of these paintings that also mark the artist's refusal to return to Franco's Spain. Art critics are skeptical, except Zervos.
Pablo combines his own styles within that series as he has done since the early 1930s. A decidedly cubist Mousquetaire à la pipe, oil on canvas 195 x 130 cm painted on March 5, 1969, was sold for $ 31M including premium by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013 from a lower estimate of $ 12M.
L'Homme à l'épée, oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm painted on July 25, 1969 during the preparation of the Woodstock festival, is undoubtedly a hidalgo. He is a bodyguard of the old artist in his approach to the new world. The face that is only slightly deformed outside the aggressive gaze is perhaps a tribute to Velazquez. On the following year, Picasso approves the choice of this picture for the poster of the exhibition of his most recent art in Avignon.
L'Homme à l'épée was sold for £ 7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 24, 2009. It is for sale by Christie's in New York on November 9, lot 20A, with a minimum price guarantee which was not disclosed, as usual in such a case.
1970 The Final Matador
2018 SOLD for £ 16.5M including premium
Aged 89 Pablo Picasso attends a corrida de toros in Fréjus. How could he have abandoned for so long his former craze for bullfighting ? The matador is a symbol of virility and bravery as well as the musketeer, and less obsolete. He is also a symbol of Spain. In September and October 1970 Picasso makes mid-length imaginary portraits of matadores. It is the human being and not the bull or the faena that excites the artist in what will be his last thematic series.
Picasso revisits various styles from his long career as he had done fifteen years earlier in Les Femmes d'Alger. As for that example the final opus is the most complex and the best completed. On February 28 in London, Sotheby's sells this oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm dated October 23, 1970, lot 16 estimated £ 14M.
This robust man is much larger than life. He holds the sword, an essential instrument of his function. Except for his fanciful musketeer's hat, his clothes copy a portrait of a matador painted by Goya around 1797. The background is not plain as in the previous paintings of the series : the torero poses in the middle of the sand colored arena and a pattern of hatching simulates the spectators who are waiting for the action on the seats.
With his wide open eyes and his clenched mouth, the attitude of the man is severe. His game is dangerous. Despite the poor health of the artist, this work with a good psychological expression is a picturesque evocation of the Spanish culture and not a presentiment of his next appointment with death.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Picasso revisits various styles from his long career as he had done fifteen years earlier in Les Femmes d'Alger. As for that example the final opus is the most complex and the best completed. On February 28 in London, Sotheby's sells this oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm dated October 23, 1970, lot 16 estimated £ 14M.
This robust man is much larger than life. He holds the sword, an essential instrument of his function. Except for his fanciful musketeer's hat, his clothes copy a portrait of a matador painted by Goya around 1797. The background is not plain as in the previous paintings of the series : the torero poses in the middle of the sand colored arena and a pattern of hatching simulates the spectators who are waiting for the action on the seats.
With his wide open eyes and his clenched mouth, the attitude of the man is severe. His game is dangerous. Despite the poor health of the artist, this work with a good psychological expression is a picturesque evocation of the Spanish culture and not a presentiment of his next appointment with death.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
