Pablo Picasso’s grandson, Olivier Widmaier Picasso, considers the crucial moment in Picasso’s career when, travelling to his native Spain, he created a series of canvases based on the features of his lover Fernande Olivier. These dynamic  compositions established Picasso's path to Cubism – widely considered to be the artist’s most important contribution in the history of Modern art. Painted in Horta de Ebro during the summer of 1909, Femme assise proudly highlights Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 21 June in London.