Much of the story of Pablo Picasso’s life can be told through his models; the recognizable women who became the artist’s lovers, muses and wives continued to support and inspire the artist to greater, more profound innovation throughout his career. Femme assise à la galette des rois (Lot 1029) is a striking portrait of the last of these great women – Jacqueline Roque.

The artist first met Jacqueline in 1952 at the Madoura pottery studio in Vallauris; she quickly became his lover and muse and would remain by his side right up until his death in 1973. No other figure looms larger in Picasso’s life and art than Jacqueline, and out of all the women in Picasso’s long life, it was Jacqueline who would appear most often in his work. Her legendary features first appeared in Picasso’s work in 1954 and the following two decades of creation, which art historian John Richardson called “l'epoque Jacqueline”, reveal the essential role she played in Picasso’s late artistic career. The photographer David Douglas Duncan, who knew Picasso and Jacqueline well during these years, observed that the couple,

In Femme assise à la galette des rois, Picasso depicts her as an all-seeing classical beauty, invested with a sense of regal authority. Although her image has been partially abstracted by the bifurcation of her face, the dark eyebrows, the beautifully curved eyelids and the firm, straight nose are unmistakably those of Jacqueline. The interlocking forms of her head deliberately evoke the iconic double portrait motif which Picasso had explored throughout much of his career and call to mind his impressive sculpture standing at the Chicago Civic Center, for which he completed a maquette in the same year that this work was painted (1965). In both the painting and the sculpture, Picasso explores the relationship between light and shadow, negative and positive space and severe tonal contrasts to create a dramatic tension within the composition.

The love that Picasso felt for his wife and the richness of their time together is reflected in the passionate vitality of the present work. In the portrait, the elegantly crowned Jacqueline is holding a traditional French dessert, the galette des rois (King Cake). A cake traditionally baked in the weeks after Christmas, it normally contains a small charm or figurine baked inside it; whoever finds this wins a prize and becomes “king for a day”. This festive detail offers a touching insight into the life of artist and muse and evokes an atmosphere of playful celebration that animates the composition as a whole.

The vibrant palette of green, black and gold and the comparatively formal nature of her posture reflect works of the old masters such as Velàzquez, whose influence was a pervasive presence in Picasso’s work of this period. Throughout the 1960s Picasso had turned repeatedly to the reinterpretation and investigation of the Old Masters, an experience in which he reaffirmed his connection to some of the greatest painters in the history of art. The artist’s advancing old age was countered by his power of vision and creativity; as he observed,

This new sense of urgency is perfectly conveyed in the grand scope and rich complexity of Femme assise à la galette des rois. It exemplifies a time when Picasso was looking back through his own career, as well as at the great masters who had come before him, while simultaneously embracing the artistic innovation that had been the hallmark of his career. These achievements were made possible by the loving company of Jacqueline who – as in the case of the present work – inspired many of his most significant compositions of the period.

Femme assise à la galette des rois has been in the same family collection since the late 1960s. In 1988 to 1989, the present work was exhibited at Picasso’s major retrospective at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm and it is now appearing for the first time at auction.

女性在畢加索的生命中至關重要，他筆下的模特兒數量之多、出現頻率之高，大概已足以把他一生的故事娓娓道來。這些女性無論是他的戀人、繆斯還是妻子，都是畢加索賴以汲取靈感的生命之源，她們引領他攀上藝術巔峰，給予他在藝壇開墾無人之境的勇氣。本作《冠冕女子與國王餅》（拍品編號1029）也刻畫了一名出色的女性，她是畢加索人生最後的繆斯——賈桂琳・蘿可。

1952年，賈桂琳在法國瓦洛里的馬杜拉製陶工坊邂逅了畢加索，兩人很快墮入愛河，賈桂琳成為了畢加索的靈感女神，並一直廝守在他身旁，直至他於1973年離世為止。在畢加索漫長的人生路上，沒有其他女性像賈桂琳一樣，對他的生活和創作產生如此巨大的影響，她在畢加索筆下出現的次數更是群芳之冠。1954年，賈桂琳初次在畢加索的作品中現身。接下來的二十年，就是藝術史學家約翰・理查德森口中的「賈桂琳時期」，可見她在畢加索晚年的藝術生涯裡扮演著不可或缺的角色。在這段時期，攝影師大衛・道格拉斯・鄧肯與畢加索夫婦逐漸變得熟稔，根據他的觀察，兩人

《冠冕女子與國王餅》把賈桂琳刻畫成儀態高貴的古典美人，她渾身上下都散發出一股莊嚴的氣度，清澈的大眼睛彷彿目視一切、洞悉人心。雖然一部分的臉龐結構抽象，但是濃黑的眉毛、弧度優美的眼簾和高挺筆直的鼻子，無一不昭顯著賈桂琳的身份。頭部前後相接緊扣的表現手法，與畢加索戮力探索的雙面肖像互相呼應，甚至讓人想起樹立在芝加哥市民中心前的巨型雕塑——在完成《冠冕女子與國王餅》的同一年裡，畢加索為這座雕塑製作了一尊小型比例模型。他在本作和芝加哥的雕塑中，均透過光影、正負空間的關係和色調的對比，營造出富有戲劇張力的效果。

本作熱情充沛、生機洋溢，反映了畢加索對妻子熱烈的愛慕之情，還有兩人豐富多彩的婚姻生活。畫中的賈桂琳頭戴王冠，手裡拿著一塊國王餅。國王餅是法國的傳統糕點，通常出現在聖誕節後的一兩個禮拜，餅裡一般都會藏著一個小瓷像，吃到小瓷像的幸運兒可以當「一天的國王」。這個富有節日色彩的親暱細節，讓外人有機會窺見藝術家與繆斯私底下的生活，熱鬧的節日氣氛躍然紙上，令作品繪形繪色。

水綠、墨黑、澄黃等明亮用色和畫中人較為正式的姿態，令人聯想到維拉斯蓋茲等古典大師，他們的影響在畢加索這個時期的作品中無處不在。在整個六十年代，畢加索不斷重新解讀及研究古典油畫，藉此再次肯定自身與藝術史上一眾偉大畫家的聯繫。此時他已踏入耄耋之年，然而與垂垂老矣的身體相反，他的眼界和創造力卻如日中天，正如他自言，

透過本作可觀的尺幅和複雜的肌理，藝術家內心幾乎要噴薄而出的迫切感被體現得淋漓盡致。畢加索一邊回顧自己和前人的創作，一邊一如既往地實踐自己的藝術新思。在賈桂琳的陪伴下，畢加索的成就一一達成，她是這個時期很多重要作品的靈感來源，《冠冕女子與國王餅》就是箇中典範。

本作從六十年代末開始一直由同一家族收藏，期間在1988至89年入選瑞典斯德哥爾摩現代美術館的大型畢加索回顧展，如今首現拍場，難能可貴。