D uring the years following World War II, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse lived near each other in the South of France and were intensely aware of each other’s artistic investigations and innovations. Fleurs is a stenographic yet sublime reflection of Picasso’s continued artistic dialogue with Matisse—its elegant draughtsmanship, reduced means, and simplified composition very much reflect the graceful lines that define the latter’s works on paper.

In 1946, Picasso and his then-lover, Françoise Gilot, visited Matisse’s studio in Vence. This visit was the first time Matisse had met Gilot, and he instantly took a liking to the younger painter, remarking that he would like to paint her portrait with green hair. Picasso, equal parts jealous and inspired by this statement, would then embark on his seminal portrait of Gilot, Femme-fleur en gris, in which he paints his lover as a plant. In the portrait, Gilot's moon-like blue face emerges from delicate leaves and tendrils, her body nothing more than a willowy stalk. Speaking of the work, the artist remarked to Françoise, “You’re growing like a plant... I’ve never felt compelled to portray anyone else this way… as part of the 'vegetable kingdom' rather than the animal kingdom.” (Françoise Gilot, Life with Picasso, New York, 1964, p. 113).

Executed two years later, on the 28th of September 1948, Fleurs belongs to a series of drawings and paintings in which Picasso further explores the idea of distilling the human figure into its basic elements to capture the essence of an individual, and the engaging, anthropomorphic still life drawing is reminiscent of the vegetal portrait of Gilot. While one silhouette dominates Femme-fleur en gris, in the present work, two silhouettes face each other in a conversant posture, their geometric elements harmoniously ensconced within one another’s presence. Indeed, in the fall of 1948, Gilot was pregnant with Picasso’s second child, Paloma, and her advancing pregnancy may have inspired Picasso to return to femme-fleur imagery, the additional fleur serving as a more literal expression of nature’s generative power.