Pablo Picasso

Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris

Wilhelm Uhde, Paris

Fine Arts Associates (Otto Gerson), New York (1951)

M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York

Perls Galleries, New York (1953)

Mr. Peter A. Rübel, Cos Cob, Connecticut

Perls Galleries, New York

Erna Futter Estate

Sale: Christie’s, New York, May 10, 1989, lot 60

Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière, Paris.

Private Collection (acquired from the above by the previous owner in 2004)

Acquired from the above by the present owner in July 2009

Venice, XXVI Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, 1952, no. 500

New York, Perls Galleries, Picasso-Braque-Gris: Cubism to 1918, 1954, no. 2, illustrated in the catalogue

New York, Guest House of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, “Young Collectors”: An exhibition of paintings lent by members of the Junior Council of the Museum of Modern Art, Nov., 1954, no. 38

Zurich, The Swiss Institute for Art Research, Maîtres de la première génération du vingtième siècle. A group of paintings in the Collection of Peter and Elizabeth Rübel, New York, 1957, no. 31

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., Picasso: An American Tribute (1895-1909), 1962, no. 38, illustrated in the catalogue

Tel Aviv, Musée de Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, Picasso,1966, no. 6, illustrated in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1906 à 1912, vol. II, Paris, 1942, no. 94, illustrated pl.47

Wilhelm Boeck and Jamie Sabartés, Picasso, New York, 1955, no. 42, illustrated p. 461

Pierre Daix & Jean Rosselet, Picasso, The Cubist Years, 1907-1916: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings and Related Works, Boston, 1979, no. 197, illustrated p. 227

Josep Palau i Fabre, Picasso Cubisme 1907 - 1917, New York, 1990, no. 265, illustrated p. 99

John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, Volume 2: 1907-1917-The Painter of Modern Life, New York, 1996, p. 99

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso’s Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, The African Period 1907-1909,  San Francisco, 2014, no. 1908-229, illustrated p. 297

Very good condition. Original canvas. There is some very minor wear in the upper right corner on the framing edge. Under ultra-violet light, there are some tiny spots of retouching on the framing edges.
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.
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Nature morte au bouquet de fleurs provides rare insight into the formative stages of Cubism and the journey that led Picasso to this revolutionary idiom. Picasso painted this still-life late in the summer of 1908 when he spent a month in the rural Rue de Bois on the outskirts of Paris. The time away from the busy social scene at the Bateau Lavoir was vital for Picasso and his lover at the time, Fernande Olivier. The artist spent this month absorbing the lessons of Cézanne and indeed the present work resonates with the geometric forms and earthy tones that dominated the late master's mature paintings. Remarkable in the present work is an early inclination to simplify and detach the shadows on the surfaces of his objects, presaging the particular use of shading, or passage, that would characterize the high Cubist still-life several years later. Picasso chooses a range of objects that are relatively predictable in the still-life genre, but through the lessons of Cézanne (famously referred to by Picasso as the "father of us all") these objects provide the stage for a discovery of Cubism. When he returned to Paris in September, Picasso would embark on a series of still-lifes through the autumn months that launch from the present work towards a fully realized Cubism. 

Originally acquired by Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Picasso and Braque's dealer from the outset of the Cubist project, the present work then entered the collection of Wilhelm Uhde. Himself the subject of a 1910 portrait by Picasso, Uhde was a pivotal patron of early Cubism and fearlessly collected the canvases of the salon Cubists long before they were acknowledged as harbingers of Modernism. The year that Picasso painted the present work, Uhde opened his own gallery on the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Paris which championed European Modernism in its nascent years.