Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)
See also : Top 10 Picasso < 1907 Marie-Thérèse Picasso later 1930s Picasso 1940-1960 Painting Nude The Woman Children Groups Orientalism Flowers Animals Cats
Chronology : 20th century 1900-1909 1905 1930-1939 1932 1938 1940-1949 1941 1950-1959 1955
Chronology : 20th century 1900-1909 1905 1930-1939 1932 1938 1940-1949 1941 1950-1959 1955
1901 The Outbreak of the Blue Period
2015 SOLD for $ 67M including premium
Pablo Picasso returned to Paris in May 1901, torn between the desire for debauchery and the anguish of death. He was not yet 20 years old. Thus begins his Blue Period, charged with an intense emotion that combines lust and misery.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
The importance of this painting in the history of Picasso's creativity is undeniable. The estimate is not published by Sotheby's but a price around $ 60M would not be surprising.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
He is gifted and already recognized. His first exhibition at Vollard's begins on 25 June. He lives at 130 Boulevard de Clichy with Pedro "Pere" Mañach who is his broker and introduces his artworks to Berthe Weill.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells La gommeuse, oil on canvas 81 x 54 cm, lot 26.
The woman is visible down to her lower hips. She is nude by her job and not for pleasure even though her disillusioned gaze may also be attributed to absinth. Her attitude with raised shoulders and hanging breasts is miserable though she is not slender.
The title is an additional mockery. In the previous century, a gommeur was a type of ridiculous character trying to make his living by performing in the cafés-concerts. The word was later applied to women.
Art is more important. Behind Pablo's gommeuse, we see the lower part of a painting on the wall showing the legs of a ballerina along with a flower throwing. The artist is attracted and repelled by the cabaret world that ultimately is not his. The gommeuse does not watch the painting.
Pablo had here an intention for caricature which is expressed with more fancy on the recently uncovered back side of that painting. The nude body of a ballerina is surmounted by the head of Mañach according to the principle of these portraits-charges which were so popular at that time in the Parisian society.
This back also has an inscription to his friend on the occasion of his feast. If this date is interpreted as St. Peter's day, this dedication allows to date the back on 29 June 1901. The front side should logically be earlier than the sketched reverse, making this gommeuse one of the triggering prototypes of the blue period.
The importance of this painting in the history of Picasso's creativity is undeniable. The estimate is not published by Sotheby's but a price around $ 60M would not be surprising.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1905 Innocent Children of the Période Rose
2018 SOLD for $ 115M including premium
Pablo Picasso is back in Paris in April 1904. Barcelona had not dissipated his morbid obsessions and he needs a restart. He installs his workshop at the Bateau-Lavoir and finally manages to create a couple, with Fernande. Gradually his painting loses its blue predominant to include warm colors like pink or orange. It is his Période Rose.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
Poverty had dominated his Période Bleue. It is now replaced by the optimistic and promising theme of children ready to enter adulthood. The Garçon à la pipe, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted in 1905, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004.
Pablo mixes the innocence of the nude with the acquisition of a first job. Although the formats are very different, the Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, 155 x 66 cm painted in 1905, and the Garçon menant un cheval, 220 x 131 cm finished in 1906, appear as pendants.
The girl is standing in profile. The body is healthy, straight. The expression is rebellious without any excuse for immodesty, in a striking psychological effect : this young person has obviously been disturbed in her occupation.
During the very short Période Rose the line is delimited and effective. The figurative realism of this Fillette makes forget that nudity may not have been necessary. This artwork successively delighted Gertrude Stein and David Rockefeller. It will be sold on May 8 by Christie's in New York, lot 15.
1905 Garçon à la Pipe by Picasso
2004 SOLD for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The miserability of the Période Bleue of Picasso, based on the difficult life of circus acrobats, was socially a dead end. In 1905 he reacts with new themes where the characters imagine their future without losing a stuck or surly attitude. These works include the Femme à l'éventail and two children, the Fillette à la corbeille de fleurs and the Garçon à la pipe.
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
La Fillette, oil on canvas 155 x 66 cm, was sold for $ 115M including premium by Christie's on May 8, 2018. Le Garçon, oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, was sold for $ 104M including premium by Sotheby's on May 5, 2004, lot 7.
The Garçon à la Pipe is a subtle blend of realism and dreamlike and, as such, will remain the archetype of the Période Rose. Dressed in blue overalls, the gloomy teenager is drawn in a fine line. The pipe marks his expectation of maturity. Picasso did not reveal his identity, because it is an allegory. He is however P'tit Louis, a boy from Montmartre who spent long hours watching the artists working at the Bateau-Lavoir.
The inspiration suddenly came to Picasso after a month of interruption of the work. In the blur of a dream, the character is positioned in front of a wallpaper with patterns of roses and wears a garland of flowers in his hair. A simultaneous use of a sharp image in a floral blur had also been attempted by Odilon Redon.
The little worker thus becomes a supernatural being. A relevant comparison was made with Verlaine's poem titled Crimen Amoris. In the dream of a delicious Orient where the seven sins supersede the five senses amidst the roses, the most handsome of the evil angels, indifferent to temptations and caresses, is a boy of sixteen who wears a crown of flowers. His ambition, annihilated at the end of the poem, was to be "the one who will create God".
masterpiece
1907 Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
MoMA
The painting of the Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 masterfully demonstrates that anything is possible from the standpoint of the form. Through this single work, Picasso got rid the art of painting from realism, narrative, perspective and depth. The simplified drawing inspired by tribal art is unprecedented in European art.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubisme is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
Inspired by the African tribal art, Picasso later said : Painting is not an aesthetic operation ; it is a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us.
The achievement of the Demoiselles encouraged Picasso to explore new styles of painting. After Cézanne, he desires to promote expression and structure. Cubisme is not a style nor a school but a pioneering research, with its trials and errors.
Inspired by the African tribal art, Picasso later said : Painting is not an aesthetic operation ; it is a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us.
1932 Picasso in Love
2010 SOLD 106.5 M$ including premium
A masterpiece of Picasso is assessed from afar. The grammar of the master, which so varied over the years, is perfectly recognizable. And yet, the observer has the impression of seeing something new.
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 in New York.
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. It comes from a prestigious collection, alongside one of the most beautiful nudes by Matisse that I will discuss later.
The auction house does not publish a price, though this painting is sold from an estate. When one likes it, one does not discuss money for it.
POST SALE COMMENT
The record was announced, the record is registered: $ 106.5 million including premium.
This is not a surprise, because it is a masterpiece for which Christie's has finely worked the promotion.
At this level, the media coverage of the sale is also promoting the buyer. One can expect that this price is exceeded by another work of art in the coming months. To be followed!
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 in New York.
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. It comes from a prestigious collection, alongside one of the most beautiful nudes by Matisse that I will discuss later.
The auction house does not publish a price, though this painting is sold from an estate. When one likes it, one does not discuss money for it.
POST SALE COMMENT
The record was announced, the record is registered: $ 106.5 million including premium.
This is not a surprise, because it is a masterpiece for which Christie's has finely worked the promotion.
At this level, the media coverage of the sale is also promoting the buyer. One can expect that this price is exceeded by another work of art in the coming months. To be followed!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
masterpiece
May 1 to June 4 Guernica
Museo de Arte Reina Sofia
In May 1937 Picasso designed his large mural commissioned by the Spanish Republican government for the pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of Paris. He chose the unsustainable horror of the bombing of Guernica that had happened on April 26, 1937.
1938 The Two Mistresses of Pablo
2015 SOLD for $ 67M including premium
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 in New York, Christie's sells 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.
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 in New York, Christie's sells 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.
1941 Dora Maar au Chat
2006 SOLD for $ 95M by Sotheby's
Pablo Picasso once said that Dora Maar had personified the war. This is certainly an exaggeration following their breakup. It remains true that Pablo was reading the evolution of the horrors of war in the attitude and expression of the hypersensitive Dora.
From Guernica to the Nazi Occupation, Dora Maar is indeed a Cassandra for Picasso. He chose in 1940 to refuse the exile and stay working in his studio of the rue des Grands Augustins but he knew that he was threatened by the new authorities. He lives in lockdown with his muse, whom he adores physically but who once again becomes the symbol of resistance to horror, or even quite simply the symbol of horror.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso in 1941. Among the many portraits that Picasso made of his mistress, it is one of the most meticulous, with vibrant colors.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this specific painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie, La Femme qui pleure and Les Femmes d'Alger.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat as for going out. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006, lot 14.
Dora Maar au Chat was not dated to the month and day by the artist. It is regrettable because the sequence of events of the German occupation and of the Vichy regime generates an increasing anxiety. Picasso's dealer in Paris, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, is a Jew who had lost the French nationality by the decrees of July 1940. On June 13, 1941 the French government begins the deportation of the Jews. On July 1, as a precaution, Kahnweiler sells his gallery to the daughter of his wife, Louise Leiris.
On November 20, 2019, Heffel sold at lot 136 for $ 9.2M CAD a Tête later titled Femme au Chapeau. oil on canvas 61 x 38 cm dated in that bad June 13, 1941, Her expression, difficult to read within Picasso's multi-perspective style, seems rigid. The bleak white of the chair's structure dominates the composition. The article shared by CTV News includes a video with the participation of David Heffel.
The new configuration of Dora's face responds to the anxieties of Picasso, who has decidedly little respect for Dora. He begins a series of oils on canvas on which Dora's other usual attributes are maintained : the long black hair, the extravagant hat, the smile despite adversity.
He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Another sign of the hard times is the ordinary style of the seat, making bringing the assumption that the comfortable armchair of the smiling Femme au chat had been painted before that dark phase of June 1941.
That series may be viewed as a counter-attack by Picasso against Matisse's Femme au chapeau of 1905, featuring Mme Matisse, which had been an excuse for an explosion of colors.
Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, was sold for $ 29.6M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 8.
June 19, 1941, just over a year into the Nazi Occupation of Paris, was a prolific day for Pablo Picasso. In addition to the Femme assise dans un fauteuil sold by Christie's for $ 19.6M, he also painted an oil on canvas of smaller size, 100 x 81 cm, featuring the same woman in the same armchair, seated in profile instead of full front. The smile disappeared and the hands are torn in the anxiety and restrictions of the Occupation. This Femme dans un fauteuil was sold for $ 17.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 32 B.
From Guernica to the Nazi Occupation, Dora Maar is indeed a Cassandra for Picasso. He chose in 1940 to refuse the exile and stay working in his studio of the rue des Grands Augustins but he knew that he was threatened by the new authorities. He lives in lockdown with his muse, whom he adores physically but who once again becomes the symbol of resistance to horror, or even quite simply the symbol of horror.
Dora inevitably becomes his only model and his main theme. A drawing 27 x 22 cm sold for € 52K by Sotheby's on December 7, 2016 is typical of this morbid drift. Dora's face is a double blister where nose and mouth take divergent directions. The time when the cubist use of a double angle of view provided another vigor to the image is over.
Picasso marks his instability in an unusual way by changing the date of the drawing by an erasure, from May 7, 1941 to June 7, 1941. He no longer controls time. We will not know if Dora Maar au Chat, featuring the animal which symbolizes the dangers of the outside world, was painted before or after this anxious frenzy of June 1941.
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted by Picasso in 1941. Among the many portraits that Picasso made of his mistress, it is one of the most meticulous, with vibrant colors.
Contrary to the artist's usual practice, it is dated by the year without indication of the day, thus appearing beside the rest of the work. Picasso gathered here his admiration and emotion in front of Dora. He emotionally departed from Dora in 1943 and from this specific painting before 1947.
Throughout Picasso's career, the excessively abundant work is dotted with some dazzling illuminations in which he expresses his deep feelings. Dora Maar au Chat is one of these masterpieces, alongside for example Le Garçon à la pipe, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, La Minotauromachie, La Femme qui pleure and Les Femmes d'Alger.
It is war time. The armchair is a space that might seem open but is in fact an obstacle to freedom, like the throne of Innocent X by Velazquez. Dora is willing to react, with her elegant clothes and her big hat as for going out. She smiles.
And then there is the cat. It is very small. Perched on the back of the chair, it walks towards the woman who does not care at all about it. Black in the least contrasted part of the image, it is sneaky. Pablo and Dora did not like cats, these pets that scratch for a simple change of mood. They preferred dogs. For these reasons this tiny cat cannot be a personification of the artist. It is at best an unsolicited visitor, at worst the danger of the outside world.
The amalgamation between human and animal interested Picasso. In the same phase, he paints portraits of Dora with the muzzle of their Afghan hound. Here Dora's very long nails are in some way the claws of the cat.
Dora Maar au Chat was sold for $ 95M by Sotheby's on May 3, 2006, lot 14.
Dora Maar au Chat was not dated to the month and day by the artist. It is regrettable because the sequence of events of the German occupation and of the Vichy regime generates an increasing anxiety. Picasso's dealer in Paris, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, is a Jew who had lost the French nationality by the decrees of July 1940. On June 13, 1941 the French government begins the deportation of the Jews. On July 1, as a precaution, Kahnweiler sells his gallery to the daughter of his wife, Louise Leiris.
On November 20, 2019, Heffel sold at lot 136 for $ 9.2M CAD a Tête later titled Femme au Chapeau. oil on canvas 61 x 38 cm dated in that bad June 13, 1941, Her expression, difficult to read within Picasso's multi-perspective style, seems rigid. The bleak white of the chair's structure dominates the composition. The article shared by CTV News includes a video with the participation of David Heffel.
The new configuration of Dora's face responds to the anxieties of Picasso, who has decidedly little respect for Dora. He begins a series of oils on canvas on which Dora's other usual attributes are maintained : the long black hair, the extravagant hat, the smile despite adversity.
He locks her up in an armchair which will symbolize freedom if one day she manages to escape and which anticipates the powerless Popes of Bacon. The nose, which takes its autonomy in this disaster, has been compared to a dog's muzzle or an elephant's trunk.
Another sign of the hard times is the ordinary style of the seat, making bringing the assumption that the comfortable armchair of the smiling Femme au chat had been painted before that dark phase of June 1941.
That series may be viewed as a counter-attack by Picasso against Matisse's Femme au chapeau of 1905, featuring Mme Matisse, which had been an excuse for an explosion of colors.
Femme dans un fauteuil, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm painted on June 19, 1941, was sold for $ 29.6M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 8.
June 19, 1941, just over a year into the Nazi Occupation of Paris, was a prolific day for Pablo Picasso. In addition to the Femme assise dans un fauteuil sold by Christie's for $ 19.6M, he also painted an oil on canvas of smaller size, 100 x 81 cm, featuring the same woman in the same armchair, seated in profile instead of full front. The smile disappeared and the hands are torn in the anxiety and restrictions of the Occupation. This Femme dans un fauteuil was sold for $ 17.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 32 B.
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.
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.
