Pablo Picasso

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Galerie Beyeler, Basel

Private Collection, New York (acquired circa 1975)

Paris, Galerie Louise Leiris, Picasso: Peintures 1962-1963, 1964, no. 63

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, oeuvres de 1962 et 1963, vol. XXIII, Paris, 1971, no. 281, illustrated pl. 130

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, The Sixties I, 1960-1963, San Francisco, 2002, no. 63-166, illustrated p. 382

Excellent condition. Original canvas. There are two tiny accretions on the body of the figure; one on her chest and another on her left breast. Under UV light, no evidence of retouching. There is slight craquelure to the chair on the left, which is stable.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The beautiful Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's wife and companion in his later years, is the subject of this richly-painted canvas from 1963.  Jacqueline had met Picasso in the early 1950s at the pottery studio in Vallauris, and she was one of several women competing for his attention following his break-up with Françoise Gilot.  Jacqueline's unflappable support and willingness to sacrifice herself on the altar of his ego won the artist's heart and Picasso married her in 1961.   Rendered in sharp, triangulated planes, the present composition calls to mind the angular depictions of Dora Maar from the early 1940s, but the color choices evoke a more peaceful and fulfilling time in Picasso's life.  The soothing palette of green, blue, yellow and white that he had customarily used in his depictions of Marie-Thérèse in the 1930s, reappear here, perhaps indicative of contentment Picasso was now experiencing in his new relationship. 

The present composition was created two years after the couple was married and reveals the steady and powerful force she had become in the artist’s life.  Picasso completed this picture at the end of May at the home he shared with Jacqueline in Mougins, known as Notre-Dame-de-Vie.   According to the photographer Edward Quinn, whose photographs document Picasso's studio work in the early 1960s at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, Jacqueline was the driving force behind Picasso's ceaseless production: "His close friends agree that Jacqueline's presence and attention were mainly responsible for Picasso's having remained so active until his death.  His outlook on life and his enthusiasm for work helped him defy old age and stay young in mind, and even in body.  He liked to be with younger people, and his 'eternal youth' coupled with Jacqueline's adaptability, made the great difference between their ages unimportant" (E. Quinn & P. Daix, The Private Picasso, New York, 1987, p. 291).

Throughout their life together, Jacqueline served as a model for several of Picasso's reinterpretations of art historical masterworks, including his studies of Manet's Déjeuner sur l'herbe and Delacroix' Femmes d'Algiers. But here, the artist has chosen to paint her not in any narrative context, but rather as the singular object and focus of his attention.  For the present painting, Picasso has preserved Jacqueline's facial features, but he has taken great liberties with the rendering of her body, the contours of which he outlines with a deep green line and embellishes with thick, swirling layers of white paint.  In the catalogue for The Mediterranean Years exhibition, John Richardson described Picasso's depictions of Jacqueline at the beginning of their relationship:  "The brilliant series of portraits that record Jacqueline's triumphant rise as Picasso's maîtresse-en-titre reveal not only the splendors but also the miseries of her new role.  Picasso and Jacqueline were more or less the same height (5 feet 4 inches), and they could easily be mistaken for father and daughter in that they both had strikingly larger features, notably very large eyes.  Picasso used his Andalusian mirada fuerte (strong gaze) to undress, seduce, amuse, terrify, or devour whomever he was out to get.  In his portraits of Jacqueline, Picasso often gave her his eyes -- enormously magnified, but nonetheless submissive; infinitely loving, but sometimes sick or scared.  Similarly, just as he had ameliorated Jacqueline's appearance in some of his earlier portraits by giving her the long neck she lacked, he was no less capable of doing the reverse.  By adjusting her image, he could humiliate or test Jacqueline, indicate love or anger or desire, and even, on occasion, predict or ordain a bout of illness" (J. Richardson, Picasso, The Mediterranean Years, op. cit., pp. 29-33).