Pablo Picasso

Bernard Picasso (by descent from the artist)

Thomas Gibson Gallery, London (acquired from the above in 2007)

Acquired from the above in 2007

London, Lefevre Fine Art Ltd., & Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Ltd. & New York, The Adelson Galleries, Works on Paper, 2005, no. 23, illustrated in the catalogue

In late April and early May 1946, Picasso executed a series of pencil drawings depicting his companion and muse Françoise Gilot. This period of Picasso’s life was characterized by an increasing energy and artistic freedom after the war years. His works of the late 1940s demonstrate a new departure in Picasso’s art, turning away from the somber still-lifes and portraits painted during Wold War II, towards a new style, brighter and more life-affirming. Arguably the most significant motive for this change was Picasso’s partnership with Gilot, who was herself a painter and forty years Picasso’s junior. Picasso met Françoise in May 1943, during his tumultuous relationship with Dora Maar, and it was not until 1946 that they settled in Cap d’Antibes in the south of France. The period that followed was marked by great personal fulfilment, during which Picasso was, probably more than at any other time, devoted to his family, including the couple’s two children, Claude and Paloma.

Gilot’s youthful spirit and her interest in art not only inspired Picasso, but also encouraged a new direction in his portraiture. While in his oils he gradually abandoned the gray, monochromatic palette and embraced a much brighter, livelier color scheme, his drawings are characterized by light, delicate lines that emphasize the model’s youth and beauty, in particular her lavish hair. Having left behind the innocent, dream-like portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter, as well as the distorted depictions of Dora Maar, Picasso found a new style for his portraits of Françoise, characterized by a certain calm elegance and poise. In Portrait de femme en buste (Françoise Gilot) she adopts an almost formal pose, looking straight at the viewer. As Frank Elgar pointed out: "The portraits of Françoise Gilot have a Madonna-like appearance, in contrast to the tormented figures he was painting a few years earlier" (F. Elgar, Picasso, New York, 1972, p. 123).