Pablo Picasso

Oslo, Galleri Haaken, Picasso: Peintures - Sculptures - Dessins, 2004, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Œuvres de 1970, Paris, 1977, vol. XXXII, no. 38, illustrated pl. 24
The Picasso Project, Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture. The Final Years, 1970-1973, San Francisco, 2004, no. 70-039, illustrated p. 19

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, attached to the mount at the upper two corners, floating in the mount. There is small 1cm. loss near the upper left corner. Apart from some light surface dirt and some handling marks to the periphery of the sheet, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration although the paper tone is slightly brighter in the original.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Picasso's inspiration for itinerant figures and other masked characters in his œuvre can be traced back to his Spanish childhood and his familiarity with Cervantes' Don Quixote. Performers also signified for him the golden age of painting and allowed him to escape the limitations of contemporary subject matter. Here was a subject that embodied the courtly performers of the Renaissance, and Picasso now resurrected them for a 20^th century audience.

At the time he completed La Parade, the artist was in his eighties. It is believed that these pictures signifying a virulent, lighthearted often playful vitality were meant to embody the artist's lost youth and vigor. Commenting on the artist's late style, Marie-Laure Bernadac wrote: 'The desire to lose control, to take fewer and fewer decisions ('I don't choose any more'), is characteristic of Picasso's late style [...]. Picasso expresses this mental wanderlust, this refusal to stay put or to regard anything as definitive, in a maxim: "To finish an object means to finish it, to destroy it, to rob it of its soul"'(quoted in Marie-Laure Bernadac, 'Picasso 1953-1972: Painting as Model', in Late Picasso: Paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972 (exhibition catalogue), The Tate Gallery, London, 1988, pp. 87-88).