Estate of the artist

Maya Widmaier-Picasso

Private Collection

Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière, Paris

Acquired from the above

Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light, there are tiny areas of retouching along the edges to address frame abrasion, and spots of retouching in the upper right corner and the upper left in the background. Over all, this work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Executed in 1947, Femme au chapeau vert belongs to a period of Picasso's work 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 sombre still-lifes and portraits painted during Wold War II, towards a new style, brighter in🐟 both coloration and subject matter.  During this time Picasso became increasingly involved with the Communist Party, which he had joined in 1944.  He attended a Party conference in Warsaw in 1948, the year after he painted the present work.  In his art, however, he avoided overtly🔯 political themes, and chose instead to depict more intimate subject matter drawn from his personal life.

 

Perhaps the most significant motive for this change was Picasso's partnership with the young painter Françoise Gilot (fig. 1). 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. &nb𒈔sp;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.  This happiness in private life spilled into the artist's work, resulting in a number of portraits of his muse and their children.  Over the years Picasso's depictions of Françoise became increasingly stylized, as he depicted her as a "Woman-flower" and sometimes in the nude (figs. 2 & 3).

 

Gilot's youthful spirit and her interest in art not only inspired Picasso, but also encouraged a new direction in his portraiture.  He gradually abandoned the gray, monochromatic palette that dominated his art during the war years and, stimulated by a new optimism, as well as by the light of the Côte d'Azur, embraced a much brighter, livelier color scheme, as visible in the present 🙈work.  Wearing a green blouse and a matching fashionable hat, Françoise is depicted against an intensely red background.  This monochromatic backdrop, executed in wide brushstrokes of pure color, emphasizes the artist's flat treatment of the picture plane, and by concealing any indication of a setting, focuses the viewer's attention on the details of the sitter's costume, hair and facial features.  💫The angular, broken forms which Picasso developed during his Cubist phase and which culminated in the dramatic depictions of Dora Maar, are here combined with a lively, vibrant palette.

 

Having left behind the innocent, dream-like portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter, as well as the dramatic, distorted depictions of Dora Maar, Picasso found a new style for his portraits of Françoise, characterized by a certain calm elegance and poise.  In Femme au chapeau vert, 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).  Discussing Picasso's depictions of Gilot, Michael Fitzgerald wrote: "Picasso's portraits of Françoise also were not drawn from life; yet the dialogue between artist and subject influenced their form. Françoise was not interested in truly naturalistic images, and, unlike in the cases of Picasso's other wives and mistresses, there are almost none that reproduce her features strictly. [...]  Within the context of portraiture, this radical reconfiguration of Françoise's face takes a step beyond Picasso's previous renderings of her; yet it does so by adopting techniques that he had employed for many years" (M. FitzGerald, 'A Triangle of Ambitions: Art, Politics, and Family during the Postwar Years with Françoise Gilot', in Picasso and Portraiture, London, 1996, p. 416).