巴布羅·畢加索

Estate of the artist

Marina Picasso (by descent from the above)

Acquired from the above

Munich, Haus der Kunst; Cologne, Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle; Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut; Zürich, Kunsthaus, Collection Marina Picasso, 1981 - 1982, no. 218, illustrated p. 367

Venice, Centro di Cultura di Palazzo Grassi,  Picasso, Opere dal 1895 al 1971 dalla Collezione Marina Picasso,1981, no. 258, illustrated p. 351

Tokyo,The National Museum of Modern Art; Kyoto, Kyoto Municipal Museum, Picasso, Masterpieces from Marina Picasso Collection and from Museums in USA and USSR, no.171, illustrated p. 292

Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, 1984; Sidney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1984, Picasso, no.135, illustrated p. 143

New York, Jan Krugier Gallery,  Pablo Picasso Metamorphoses. Works from 1898 to 1973 from the Marina Picasso Collection, 2002, no. 67, illustrated p. 125; illustrated in color p. 63

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso,vol. 11, Paris, 1960, no. 106, illustrated p. 43

The Picasso Project, ed., Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. Nazi Occupation, 1940-1944, San Francisco, 1999, no. 41-060, illustrated p. 24

Excellent condition. Oil on wooden panel. The edges of the panel surrounding the composition are unpainted. The paint surface is fresh and intact. Under UV, no evidence of retouching.
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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Picasso’s portrait of this self-possessed young woman was painted during the German occupation of Paris in 1941. Unlike his disturbingly abstracted depictions of Dora Maar that he painted around this time, Femme à la collerette presents a young woman whose strength of character and calming presence clearly had a profound impact on the artist during these turbulent years.  According to the archives of Jan Krugier, the present work is presumed to be a portrait of Inès Sussier (née Odorisi), Picasso’s housekeeper; and the woman who remained in the artist’s life longer than any of his muses, models, lovers or wives. Picasso first met Inès Sussier along with her older sister in the summer of 1936 while vacationing in Mougins. A few months later in January 1937, Picasso employed both sisters as housekeepers in his Paris home located in the rue de la Boétie. This began one of the most stable and loyal relationship of the artist’s life, one which only ended upon his death in 1973.

Over the course of more than three decades, Inès filled many roles in the life of Picasso. She was not only his housekeeper but also his close friend, confident, nanny, cook and model.  Inès was a reassuring and stable presence in the Picasso household, in contrast to his continuously changing cast of passionate and sometimes volatile lovers.  Inès was not only accepted by the women in Picasso’s life, but she was also adored by his children.  Maya Widmaier-Picasso, the daughter of Marie-Thérèse Walter, remembers Inès fondly, “ My father had unlimited trust in Inès, like he had in his friend Sabartès. She is for me a wonderful memory from my youth. She was a true ray of light for us, always happy, always gracious" (Maya's inscription on the reverse of a certificate for Inès assise, dated, Paris, 30 March 2002).

Irreplaceable according to Picasso himself and his children, the feeling was most certainly mutual. In an interview with Arianna Huffington, Inès explained, “As far as I was concerned, there was only him… Picasso was first and foremost before the whole world… I was part of the household as if I was a wife, as I was with my husband. It made no difference to me whether it was Jacqueline or this one or the other one who was there. I was with him… To live next to him, you had to be able to forgive everything. You got hit on the head, but that allowed you to be next to him. If you had decided that that was what you wanted, you had to accept everything. It's clear that others were not able to stay the course” (Arianna Huffington, Picasso - Creator and Destroyer, London, 1988, p. 409).