Françoise Gilot

Acquired directly from the artist in 1976

New Orleans, Gallier Hall, Les Petits Lits Blancs Charity Ball, 1976, n.n.

Mel Yoakum, ed., Françoise Gilot, Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, illustrated in a 1973 photograph of Françoise at work in her studio in La Jolla p. 407 & in a 1976 photograph of Françoise with Jonas Salk p. 409

This work is in excellent condition.The canvas is not lined. The surface is clean with a few pindots of fly speck near the upper center. Archive number 843 written by another hand on the top portion of the stretcher, and further numbered C1853. Under UV light: no in-painting is apparent.
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Françoise Gilot’s mesmerizing Dancer II is an image of great force and compositional clarity. Executed in 1973, it is part of a series of monumental circus paintings which had as their subject matter the varying forms and movements of acrobats and dancers. The present work depicts a dancer standing next to a chair holding a trapeze in her right hand, as a towel drapes over her left shoulder. The dancer is seen from behind, serenely balanced, the towel and chair giving her a silent steadfastness while the trapeze offers a quiet promise of motion. A bold and accomplished colorist, Gilot’s bright monochrome palette here speaks of energy and passion, masterfully offset by accents of nuanced white. Gilot’s statements about her earliest experience of color leave us in little doubt about its central role in her oeuvre and help us to better understand the concerns behind her extraordinary artistic vision: “each time we open our eyes, we experience a new birth. Whenever all the sensations from the external world rush towards us, tones, shapes and textures seem to fight for precedence, but in my earliest childhood remembrances, color always prevails" (Françoise Gilot, quoted in Mel Yoakum, ed., op. cit., p. 13).

Widely-known as the only woman who dared to love Picasso and leave him, the motif of the circus performer offers a fitting symbol for Gilot herself: a figure whose choices are bold and not without risk, but whose character is ultimately defined by independence and uncompromising strength. As Gilot herself explains: “If you want to really live, you must risk living on the edge; otherwise, life isn’t worth it. When you open yourself to risk, you will also experience bad things, but mostly you will understand more. Most importantly, you will not become dull. The very worst thing is to be dull” (quoted in Mark Hudson, Picasso: Challenging the Past (exhibition catalogue), National Gallery, London, 2009, n.p.).

The present work was exhibited in the Gallier Hall in New Orleans in 1976, for Les Petits Lits Blancs Charity Ball. This event was founded in 1918 to provide care for children suffering from tuberculosis after the War and was hosted at grand buildings around the world, attracting dignitaries and celebrities alike, among whom counted Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco. As part of the extravaganza in 1976, the present work along with a number of other magnificent paintings from Gilot’s Circus series were exhibited in the ballroom. The event was attended by Gilot herself and the work was here acquired by the present owner, in whose collection it has remained ever since.