Lot 3217 - A207 Impressionist & Modern Art - Friday, 01. December 2023, 04.30 PM
PABLO PICASSO
(Málaga 1881–1973 Mougins)
Portrait Françoise Gilot. 1949.
India ink and watercolour on sheet of paper.
Dedicated, signed and dated lower left: Pour / Elsa Triolet / et Louis / Aragon / Picasso / Paris le 31.5.49.
38 × 28.5 cm (sheet folded; full sheet width 55.5 cm.).
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Provenance:
- Collection of Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet, received on 31.5.1949 as a gift from the artist.
- With Galerie Nathan, Zurich.
- Private collection, Switzerland, probably acquired from the above gallery.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in 2010 from the above gallery and by descent to the current owners.
Pablo Picasso shared the admiration of many of his contemporaries for the work of the baroque poet Luis de Góngora y Argote, after whom was named the complex literary style of Gongorism, peppered with metaphors and allegories. In 1948, Picasso copied twenty of his poems, which had been translated into French by Z. Milner in 1928 and published in France. These he copied by hand again into Spanish, decorating them with ornaments and small drawings, and providing them with many annotations. He also created 20 full-page etchings with portraits.
It is probably no coincidence that a year later Picasso painted the woman's portrait here on the printed cover of one of these "livres artistiques," because it is dedicated to his artist friends, the French-Russian writer Elsa Triolet and her husband, the Surrealist poet Louis Aragon, both of whom were very familiar with the Baroque poet's works.
The head also bears a particular resemblance to the portrait in Sonnet VXIII of the Gongora suite, which bears the title “At a young girl picking flowers.” In a more modern version, a woman's head stands out in profile from the dense black ink surface. With grey-white, fleeting watercolor strokes, individual parts of the woman's face are emphasized and the flowers in her hair are only suggested. Whether the portrait depicts Françoise Gilot, who was still Picasso's partner when the sheet was created; the addressee of the work, Elsa Triolet; or simply Góngora's "young flower girl," remains to be seen.
- Collection of Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet, received on 31.5.1949 as a gift from the artist.
- With Galerie Nathan, Zurich.
- Private collection, Switzerland, probably acquired from the above gallery.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in 2010 from the above gallery and by descent to the current owners.
Pablo Picasso shared the admiration of many of his contemporaries for the work of the baroque poet Luis de Góngora y Argote, after whom was named the complex literary style of Gongorism, peppered with metaphors and allegories. In 1948, Picasso copied twenty of his poems, which had been translated into French by Z. Milner in 1928 and published in France. These he copied by hand again into Spanish, decorating them with ornaments and small drawings, and providing them with many annotations. He also created 20 full-page etchings with portraits.
It is probably no coincidence that a year later Picasso painted the woman's portrait here on the printed cover of one of these "livres artistiques," because it is dedicated to his artist friends, the French-Russian writer Elsa Triolet and her husband, the Surrealist poet Louis Aragon, both of whom were very familiar with the Baroque poet's works.
The head also bears a particular resemblance to the portrait in Sonnet VXIII of the Gongora suite, which bears the title “At a young girl picking flowers.” In a more modern version, a woman's head stands out in profile from the dense black ink surface. With grey-white, fleeting watercolor strokes, individual parts of the woman's face are emphasized and the flowers in her hair are only suggested. Whether the portrait depicts Françoise Gilot, who was still Picasso's partner when the sheet was created; the addressee of the work, Elsa Triolet; or simply Góngora's "young flower girl," remains to be seen.
CHF 180 000 / 280 000 | (€ 185 570 / 288 660)
Sold for CHF 325 000 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.