Pablo Picasso

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Catalogue raisonné, oeuvres de 1895 à 1906, vol.1, paris, 1957, no. 348, reproduit p. 165
Pierre Daix, Picasso 1900-1906, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Neuchatel, Suisse, 1966 et 1988, No. d. xvi. 17, reproduit p. 331

Executed on cream laid paper, laid down on cardboard. There is a vertical thin flattened crease running from the centre of the upper edge to the centre of the lower edge, possibly made by the artist. Apart from some very minor scratches in the upper right corner and towards the centre of the lower edge, possibly inherent to the artistic process, this work is in very good original condition.
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signed 'Picasso' and dated '1906' (lower left), watercolour and gouache on paper. Executed in 1906

 

"Aussi loin, que le regard se porte dans l'œuvre de Pablo Picasso, la question du corps et la relation que le peintre entretient avec elle apparaissent prédominantes" (in. Picasso, La Passion du dessin, catalogue d'exposition, musée Picasso, Paris, 2006, p. 83).  Des courbes sensuelles de ses premiers amours, aux rondeurs enfantines de Marie-Thérèse sans oublier les poses orientalisantes de Jacqueline, l'amour et ses occurrences charnelles sous tendent continuellement l'inspiration du peintre, liant intimement l'art à la vie. Véritable leitmotiv de sa création, objet de désir et de fascination, le nu féminin fait l'objet de multiples analyses formelles apparaissant en filigrane tout au long de l'œuvre de Picasso. En témoigne ce beau nu allongé de 1906 où l'artiste immortalise Fernande Olivier, réminiscence des odalisques ingresques dont il a pu admirer les chairs voluptueuses quelques mois plus tôt lors du Salon d'automne parisien.

Au printemps 1906, Picasso et sa compagne Fernande Olivier se rendent en Espagne et s'établissent plusieurs mois à Gosol, village catalan isolé au nord d'Andorre. Ce séjour bénéfique dont Apollinaire souligne "l'atmosphère de paradis" est un moment crucial dans le parcours de l'artiste qui, à l'écart de la vie trépidante de Paris, se livre à une étude passionnée du corps humain (Lettre d'Apollinaire à Picasso, Paris, 27 juin 1906, in. Picasso/Apollinaire, lettre no. 13, p. 54). Libéré de toute anecdote, à l'exception du coussin coloré sur lequel repose le modèle, cette vénus intemporelle, immortalisée quelques mois plus tard, illustre a merveille le parti pris de simplicite qui caracterise les recherches stylistiques de l'artiste depuis sa retraite en terre catalane. la dynamique des raccourcis et l'epuration formelle traduisent l'essence meme du corps feminin, faisant echo au langage elliptique et synthetique des grands nus massifs que l'artiste realise a Gosol. Fernande apparaît ainsi évanescente sur le papier. La gamme chromatique réduite, usant essentiellement du bleu, du rouge et du rose, se fait le chantre d'une représentation sensuelle et minimale.   

 

'Wherever we look in Picasso's oeuvre, the predominant theme that emerges is that of the body and the painter's relationship with it (in. Picasso, La Passion du dessin, exhibition catalogue, Musée Picasso, Paris, 2006, p. 83).  From the sensual curves of his first lovers, to the round, childlike forms of Marie-Thérèse, right up to the Orientalist poses of Jacqueline, love and its carnal expression constantly underlie the painter's inspiration, intimately linking art with life.  A veritable catalyst for artistic creation and an object of desire and fascination, the female nude is the subject of diverse formal experiments and appears as a running theme throughout Picasso's work.  In this beautiful reclining nude from 1906 in which the artist immortalises Fernande Olivier, he takes inspiration from Ingres' odalisques whose voluptuous shapes he had admired some months earlier at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.   

In the spring of 1906 Picasso and his lover Fernande Olivier went to Spain and settled for a few months in a small isolated Catalonian village called Gosol, just north of Andorra.  This therapeutic retreat, described by Apollinaire as having 'a heavenly atmosphere', represents a crucial moment in the career of the artist, who, finding welcome respite from hectic Parisian life, was able to devote himself to a passionate study of the human form (letter from Apollinaire to Picasso, Paris 27^th June 1906, Picasso/Apollinare letter no. 13, p.54).  Free from any contemporary props apart from the coloured cushion on which the model rests, this timeless Venus figure excellently demonstrates the pared down simplicity which characterised Picasso's style during his time at the isolated Catalonian retreat.  The use of shorthand and the formal minimalism convey the very essence of the female body, thus echoing the elliptical and synthetic language of the large-scale nudes that the artist painted during this period.  Thus in Femme nue couchée,  Fernande appears to be evanescent against the paper.  With a reduced colour scheme, essentially using blue, red and pink, this work is a eulogy to sensual, minimal representation.