Painted In 1932, known as Picasso’s ‘Year of Wonders,’ Marie-Therese’s portrait has been unveiled to the public for the first time in two decades and will highlight Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London on June 19, 2018.Picasso painted “Buste de femme de profil. Femme ecrivant,”1932, a portrait of his muse Marie-Therese Walter painted while he was still married to his wife Olga, carries an estimate in the region of $45 million. The 1932 painting comes from one of the most prolific and celebrated chapters in the artist’s long career. Work from that year was recently the subject of a major exhibition at Tate Modern in London.Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said: “This tender and romantic vision of Marie-Therese is a remarkably intimate portrait of the woman who has come to embody the heart and soul of the most celebrated year of Picasso’s oeuvre. ‘Buste de femme de profil. Femme ecrivant’ comes to auction having remained unseen in public for more than 20 years, marking the third consecutive season this year where an exceptional Picasso from the 1930s has headlined our flagship evening sale. It is all the more wonderful to offer this painting created in the spring of 1932 at a time when we are enjoying a world-class exhibition devoted to this year at Tate Modern in London.”According to the auction house, “In Marie-Therese’s portrait, an unmistakable profile and sweep of blonde hair are silhouetted in front of a window at the Chateau de Boisgeloup, the grand house outside of Paris acquired by Picasso in 1930. His muse’s sensual curves are echoed by the diffused green light emanating from the gardens beyond the window – the deliberate juxtaposition of the horizontals and verticals of the window frame with the soft curves of her body masterfully emphasizing her form. The palette is characteristic of Picasso’s key depictions of Marie-Therese during this year. The composition recalls both his celebrated Cubist paintings and the series of monumental sculpted heads that he created in 1931, again inspired by Marie-Therese. It is the intensity and passion of the paintings from 1932 that mark them out as unique among the artist’s work.”The auction house added that Picasso very rarely painted his muses from life, his depictions being inspired by the memory of them and the metamorphic power of his erotic imagination. But the same was not true for Marie-Therese in particular. The artist’s inspiration reached fever pitch in the long periods they were forced to spend apart. The painting depicts her in a quietly contemplative mood – perhaps picturing her lover as she writes.The work is on view in New York through May 16 before traveling to Hong Kong from May 25 through May 31 and arriving in London from June 14 through June 19, 2018.http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder Louise Blouin
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