Marie-Thérèse Walter, the subject of this sensuous painting, met the artist in 1927, when she was seventeen and he was forty-five. She became his lover and muse soon after. While the female form was not a new subject for Picasso, the flowing, curvilinear style and bright, saturated tones used to depicted Marie-Thérèse are departures from his earlier portrayals of women. By simplifying her voluptuous form into primary shapes, Picasso presents her figure as something resembling an ancient fertility object.
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Inscription: Signed (in black paint, lower left): Picasso; inscribed and dated (in black paint, verso, on horizontal stretcher bar left): Boisgeloup / juillet XXXII
the artist, Paris (1932–55; sold in summer 1955, through Sam Kootz, to Rübel); Peter and Elizabeth Rübel, Cos Cob, Conn. and New York (1955–at least 1973; sold to Perls); [Perls Galleries (Klaus G. Perls), New York, after 1973; stock no. 7143]; Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, New York (until 1997; their gift to MMA)
Rome. Galleria Nazionale. "Mostra di Pablo Picasso," 1953, no. 23.
New York. Kootz Gallery. "Picasso," March 12–April 7, 1956, unnumbered cat.
New York. Perls Galleries. "Maîtres de la première génération du vingtième siècle: A Group of Paintings in the Collection of Peter and Elizabeth Rübel, New York," March 13–April 13, 1957 (later traveled to several cities in the United States), no. 34.
New York. Perls Galleries. "Picasso: An American Tribute," April 25–May 12, 1962, no. 4.
Art Gallery of Toronto. "Picasso and Man," January 11–February 16, 1964, no. 110.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso and Man," February 28–March 31, 1964, no. 110.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso and the Weeping Women: The Years of Marie-Thérèse Walter and Dora Maar," June 12–September 4, 1994, not in catalogue (brochure no. 23; as "Reclining Nude with Flowers," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso the Engraver: Selections from the Musée Picasso, Paris," September 18–December 21, 1997, not in catalogue.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Pikaso ten: Kaikan 10-shunen kinen/Pablo Picasso: 10th Anniversary," July 4–September 6, 1998, no. 75.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Pikaso ten: Kaikan 10-shunen kinen/Pablo Picasso: 10th Anniversary," September 12–November 29, 1998, no. 75.
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. 104).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Surrealism: Desire Unbound," February 6–May 12, 2002, not in catalogue.
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. "Picasso and Women," October 20, 2002–January 19, 2003, unnumbered cat. (p. 182).
New York. Acquavella Galleries. "Picasso's Marie-Thérèse," October 15–November 29, 2008, no. 7.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 78.
Christian Zervos et al. "Picasso." Cahiers d'art 10, nos. 7–10 (1935), p. 213, ill.
Christian Zervos. Picasso: 1930–1935. Paris, 1935, p. 77, ill.
Joan Merli. Picasso, el artista y la obra de nuestro tiempo. 2nd ed. (1st ed.,1942). Buenos Aires, 1948, pl. 401.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 7, Works from 1926 to 1932. New York and Paris, 1955, p. 180, no. 407, ill.
Roland Penrose and John Golding, ed. Picasso in Retrospect. New York, 1973, pp. 112, 114, 277, pl. 187.
Carsten-Peter Warncke. Pablo Picasso, 1881–1973. Ed. Ingo F. Walther. Vol. 1, The Works 1890–1936. Cologne, 1995, ill. p. 352 (color), calls it "Reclining Nude with Flowers".
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), pp. C11–12, ill.
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. 113, no. 32-058, ill.
William S. Lieberman. "Les Peintres de Paris à New York." Connaissance des arts no. 578 (December 2000), p. 130.
Diana Widmaier-Picasso inPablo Picasso and Marie-Thérèse Walter: Between Classicism and Surrealism. Ed. Marcus Müller. Exh. cat., Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster. Bielefeld, 2004, p. 32, fig. 7.
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.
Holland Cotter. "All the Picassos in the Cupboard." New York Times (April 29, 2010), p. C25.
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. 214–16, no. 78, ill. (color).
Shawn Digney-Peer 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. 216–17, figs. 78.2 (Infrared reflectogram), 78.3 (X-radiograph).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 62 (color).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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