The ovoid shape of Marie-Thérèse Walter’s resting head and the simplification of her features recall the heaviness of sleep, as seen in Brancusi’s Sleeping Muse. Picasso moved his lover Marie-Thérèse and their one-year-old daughter, Maya, to a country house outside Paris in autumn 1936. Although he frequently depicted Marie-Thérèse asleep, this work may also reflect the sweet exhaustion of the new mother, as well as the perplexity of the fifty-five-year-old father: when Picasso painted this canvas, he had already met Dora Maar, his new lover.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): 18 D. XXXVI. Picasso
the artist (1936–probably late 1930s; probably sold in the late 1930s through Mary (Meric) Callery to her husband, Frua de Angeli); Carlo Frua de Angeli, Milan (probably from late 1930s); Robert Meier, Zurich (by 1946–at least 1948); [Perls Galleries (Klaus G. Perls), New York, from 1964; stock no. 6593]; Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, New York (until 1997; their gift to MMA)
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Georges Braque, Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944, Pablo Picasso," September 21–October 20, 1946, no. 144 (as "Interieur mit Schläferin").
Venice. Biennale. "XXIV Biennale di Venezia," May 29–September 30, 1948, Sala L, no. 17 (as "Interno con dormiente," lent by a private collection, Zurich).
São Paolo. 2a Bienal do Museu de Arte Moderna. "IIa Bienal: Exposiçáo Picasso," December 13, 1953–February 20, 1954, no. 32 (as "Interior com mulher dormindo," lent by a private collection).
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Picasso and Man," January 11–February 16, 1964, no. 164 (as "The Poet's Attic / Interieur à la femme endormie," lent by the Perls Galleries).
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso and Man," February 28–March 31, 1964, no. 164.
New York. Perls Galleries. "Pablo Picasso: Highlights in Retrospect," October 12–November 20, 1965, no. 15 (as "La Mansarde du Poète," lent by a private collection).
Paris. Grand Palais (peintures) and Petit Palais (dessins, sculptures, céramiques). "Hommage à Pablo Picasso," November 20, 1966 –February 28, 1967, no. 168 (as "La Mansarde du Poète," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Vienna. Osterreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst. "Pablo Picasso," April 24–June 30, 1968, no. 42 (as "Die Dachkammer des Dichters [La mansarde du poète]," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Humlebaeck, Denmark. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso," September 20–November 10, 1968, no. 46 (lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Exposition Picasso," October 15–December 4, 1977, no. 45 (as "La mansarde du poète," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Exposition Picasso," December 13–26, 1977, no. 45.
Cultural Center of Fukuoka. "Exposition Picasso," January 5–22, 1978, no. 45.
Kyoto. National Museum of Modern Art. "Exposition Picasso," January 28–March 5, 1978, no. 45.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, not in brochure [among 14 non-Schoenborn bequest works included in the exhibition].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso the Engraver: Selections from the Musée Picasso, Paris," September 18–December 21, 1997, not in catalogue.
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Picasso and the War Years, 1937–1945," October 10, 1998–January 3, 1999, no. 1 (as "Girl Asleep at a Table [Intérieur à la femme endormie]").
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Picasso and the War Years, 1937–1945," February 5–April 26, 1999, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 107).
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 61.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 61.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 81.
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Picasso Black and White," October 5, 2012–January 23, 2013, no. 56.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Picasso Black and White," February 20–May 28, 2013, no. 56.
Picasso 1937–1953: Gli anni dell'apogeo in Italia. Exh. cat., p. 145, fig. 3 (installation photo, Exh. Venice 1948), identifies Robert Meier as the lender of this work to Exh. Venice 1948 based on certificates of insurance issued for the loan works.
Attilio Podestà. "Picasso." Emporium 108 (July–August 1948), p. 39, ill.
Attilio Podestà. "Picasso." La XXIV Biennale di Venezia. Bergamo, 1948, p. 39, ill.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 8, Oeuvres de 1932 à 1937. Paris, 1957, p. 146, no. 309, ill.
Pierre Daix. Dictionnaire Picasso. Paris, 1995, p. 555.
J[ason]. E[dward]. K[aufman]. "Perls Adds Gems to the Met." Art Newspaper no. 61 (July–August 1996), p. 14.
Carol Vogel. "Met is Given 13 Works Worth Over $60 Million." New York Times (May 20, 1996), p. C11.
Mariel Jardines. The Picasso Project: Picasso's Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings, and Sculpture, A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue, 1885–1973. Ed. Herschel Chipp and Alan Wofsy. Vol. 5, Surrealism, 1930–1936. San Francisco, 1997, p. 303, no. 36-104, ill.
William Grimes. "Klaus Perls, Art Dealer Who Gave Picassos to the Met, Dies at 96." New York Times (June 5, 2008), p. B6.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 12.
Magdalena Dabrowski inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 222–23, no. 81, ill. (color).
Isabelle Duvernois inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 222–23.
Richard Shiff inPicasso Black and White. Ed. Carmen Giménez. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 2012, pp. 42, 221, no. 56, ill. (color).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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