Pablo Picasso – femme nue se coiffant

Sold for 1.600.000 SEK at Uppsala Auktionskammares evening sale ”The Neuman Collection”, 7 Dec 2016.

1004. Pablo Picasso (1881‑1973). ”Femme nue se coiffant”.
Signed Picasso and dated 17.7.67. and numbered I. Indian ink and wash on paper, 28 x 46 cm.

When Picasso drew Femme nue se coiffant in the Summer of 1967, he was living together with his devoted, last wife Jacqueline Roque in Notre-Dame-de-vie in Mougins. The features of the nude woman in this work resemble those of Jacqueline in Picasso’s many portraits of his beloved wife. Even though she entered his life relatively late, she became his favourite and most painted subject and began to appear in Picasso’s paintings from 1954. The picture is not recognised as a portrait of Jacqueline Roque, however she was undoubtedly an inspiration to this and numerous of the works created by Picasso in his later years.

The theme of a nude woman arranging her hair became a part of Picasso’s motifs from a young age, however the artist kept changing the shape and pose of the women in his paintings and drawings over time. Picasso developed an interest in the subject of the Femme se coiffant in the early part of the twentieth century. Edgar Degas used the theme in many of his pastels and drawings dating from the last years of his life and they influenced many of Picasso’s works. Another very important inspiration for Picasso was the famous work Le Bain turc by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The figures in Ingres’ painting almost seemed sculptural in their nature and the intimate scene that took place in the painting fascinated Picasso. His first model for the theme Femme se coiffant was Fernande Olivier, his lover from 1904 whose voluminous figure attracted Picasso. Fernande usually wore her long hair tied in a knot, but her everyday ritual of brushing and arranging it inspired the artist to create his first drawings of a “Femme nue se coiffant”.

Above right: Figure 1: Woman Dressing Her Hair, 1940. 
Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973): Woman Dressing Her Hair, Royan, June Digitale (1)(A) 1940. New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Oil on canvas, 130.1 x 97.1 cm. Louise Reinhardt Smith Bequest. Acc.n.: 788.1995.
© 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York / Scala, Florence. © Succession Picasso
Above left: Figure 2: Nu assis au miroir (Nude with mirror) from 1967.
Rosengart Collection Museum Lucerne (permanent loan to the Rosengart Collection). © Succession Picasso

Throughout his life, Picasso was involved with several women and they all, to a great extent, influenced the artist and his paintings during the time they spent together. He painted several portraits of nude women, often seated or reclining (or laying down), holding different items in their hands. His complex, yet intense relationship to the many women in his life contributed to the creation of some of his most impressive works. This is true of the painting of Dora Maar dating from 1940 (Figure 1) that is titled Woman Dressing Her Hair (Museum of Modern Art, New York), which Picasso worked on for a long time and when he finally finished it, it was regarded to be one of his best works. This famous oil painting shows Picasso’s mistress at the time, Dora Maar, sitting with her legs in front of her and with her arms behind her back, arranging and twisting her long hair. The familiar theme is treated differently in this painting, and takes on a rather anguished and dramatic air. Compared to the painting of Dora Maar from 1940, the woman in Femme nue se coiffant from 1967 is sitting down in a similar pose with both her legs in front of her and with one knee over the other. In a sweeping motion she raises her arms to be able to reach the hair on top of her head. The softness of the lines is typical for Picasso’s paintings dating from this joyful and harmonic period in his life. Picasso created a similar painting on this theme during the same year which is shown in Figure 2, Nu assis au miroir (Picasso Museum, Lucerne). In this painting, the nude woman is gazing into a mirror, which she is holding in her right hand. The other hand is arranging her hair in a similar pose, which Picasso keeps returning to in his oeuvre. They both closely depict Picasso’s fascination with the intimate moment of a woman dressing herself.

The movement in Femme nue se coiffant from 1967 is almost tangible and has been intensified by the use of different shades of black and grey applied with wide and bold brushstrokes. The focus is on the female curves of the body, with many areas such as the feet, stomach and legs being pronounced. Femme nue se coiffant is part of a series of drawings that Picasso made on the same day in 1947. The other drawings consist of a seated nude woman, while the third is portraying a male face. During this time in his life, Picasso fully entered a period of diversity in his artistry and his paintings became even more daring and expressive.

Enquiries:
Mr. Magnus Bexhed
+46 705 – 22 12 04
bexhed@uppsalaauktion.se

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