"To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot live always in the present it must not be considered at all. The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was."
E xecuted 11 January 1921, Buste de femme offers a vision of serene monumentality shaped by the classical ideals that defined Pablo Picasso’s art in the years following World War I. Created during his full embrace of the Neoclassical style, the work transforms a contemporary woman into an emblem of timeless gravity, her features echoing ancient sculpture while bearing the unmistakable imprint of Olga Kokhlova, Picasso’s wife and muse.
The composition reflects the artist’s deliberate return to classical restraint in the aftermath of war. In the years between 1917 and 1925, Picasso pursued a visual language grounded in proportion, clarity, and weight, values that stood in stark contrast to the fragmentation and disorder of the previous decade. This shift was in part a response to the broader cultural climate: a “call to order” swept through postwar France, as artists, writers, and intellectuals turned to the antique as a source of continuity and renewal. For Picasso, this period of reflection and recalibration aligned with his travels to Italy in 1917, where he immersed himself in the visual world of Greco-Roman antiquity. In Naples and Pompeii, he studied the rhythms of ancient frescoes and the imposing grandeur of sculpted marbles whose weight and solemnity left a lasting imprint on his imagination.
The present work comes from the esteemed collection of Mineo Hata, the influential Japanese dealer and collector known for his discerning eye and deep appreciation of refined technique. Hata was particularly drawn to works that demonstrated a mastery of touch, surface, and form, and his collection reflected a commitment to quality and connoisseurship.