Lot 193
  • 193

Pablo Picasso

Estimate
1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD
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Description

  • Pablo Picasso
  • Paysage, vu d'atelier de l'artiste
  • Signed Picasso (upper left); dated 27.4.67. II (on the reverse)
  • Oil on canvas
  • 25 3/8 by 31 1/2 in.
  • 64.4 by 80 cm

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany (acquired circa 1970)
Private Collection, Germany (by descent from the above)
Sale: Tajan, Paris, June 7, 2004, lot 38
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Literature

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1965 à 1967, vol. XXV, Paris, 1972, no. 346, illustrated p. 150

Condition

The canvas is unlined. The pigment is very fresh and strong. There is extremely fine and stable craquelure in very select areas of the white pigment in the upper right quadrant. There is minor frame abrasion to the upper right edge of the canvas. When examined under UV light, there is a single stroke of retouching to the extreme upper right corner. No evidence of other repainting or restoration. The painting is in excellent condition.
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.

Catalogue Note

Referring to the artist’s earlier landscapes, John Richardson notes, "Since he could never depict anything without to some degree identifying with it, Picasso assumes the role of genius loci in his landscapes that constitute his first sustained confrontation with nature. He invests the trees with his own life force, as if he were God reinventing the universe in his image. 'I want to see my branches grow... That's why I started to paint trees; yet I never paint them from nature. My trees are myself'" (John Richardson, A Life of Picasso. 1907-1917: The Painter of Modern Life, vol. II, New York, 1996, p. 93).

Paysage, vu d'atelier de l'artiste, a landscape dating to the final decade of the artist’s career, brings to life the same intrinsic zealous energy. The deliberately distorted perspective presents the distinct elements of the painting, simultaneously enveloping the viewer in the landscape. Whereas Picasso’s landscapes from the early 1940s employed subdued grays and browns to capture the oppressive atmosphere of occupied Paris, in the landscapes of the 1950s and 1960s Picasso exalts in the depth and strength of color, seen here in his use of harmonious bright blue and green hues.

Picasso devoted a large portion of his time and passion throughout the 1960s to the reinterpretation and investigation of the old masters, an experience in which he personally reaffirmed his connection to some of the greatest painters in the history of art. Picasso revisited motifs from his earlier work while simultaneously re-working that of Manet, Matisse and Delacroix. Paysage, vu d'atelier de l'artiste is Surreal in its swirling composition, drawing the viewer into the midst of highly atmospheric and other-worldly mountain range. The flattened composition of the abstracted natural forms are reminiscent of both El Greco’s View of Toledo and van Gogh’s Landscape with Olive Trees, yet it is the intermingling of greyish blues, creamy greens and light browns which recalls the sfumato technique practiced by Leonardo Da Vinci and suggests the breadth of Picasso’s study of art historical principles (see figs. 1 & 2).