Estate of the artist, France
Ippolito Simonis, Turin
Galerie 1900-2000, Paris
Marianne & Pierre Nahon, Paris (and sold: Sotheby's, Paris, July 18, 2004, lot 304)
Acquired at the above sale

Nice, Musée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain, Picabia et la Côte d'Azur, 1991, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Gijón, Palacio Revillagigedo, Picabia entre guerras, 1991, illustrated in the catalogue
Vence, Château Notre-Dames de Fleurs (Galerie Beaubourg), Francis Picabia, Classique et merveilleux, 1998, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Grenoble, Musée de Grenoble & Geneva, Musée du Petit Palais, Francis Picabia, Les Nus et la méthode, 1998, no. 35, illustrated in color in the catalogue
Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art & traveling, Francis Picabia, 1999-2000, no. 069, illustrated in color in the catalogue

The work is in excellent condition. The panel is sound. There is some light surface dust. Under Uv light, there is a nailhead area of inpainting in the upper right quadrant. There are a few pindot strokes of inpainting in the upper left corner, otherwise fine.
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.

During his prolific career, Francis Picabia covered an astonishing range of styles in his painting, including—but not limited to—Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism. The ease with which he took to different genres testifies to his extraordinary skill as a painter. He continually looked to diverse styles for inspiration (whether contemporary or historic) and adapted them to his own ends, imbuing them with his own distinctive vision and personality. As such, rather than prescribing to any one contemporary art movement, his works often instead offer a mirror onto his private life, whether in terms of experience or mood. William Copley observed, in reference to Picabia: “[the] greatest achievement for any creative person is to arrive where his personality, his life, is synonymous and indistinguishable from his work” (quoted in William A. Camfield, Francis Picabia. His Art, Life and Times, Princeton, 1979, p. xvii). In this alone, Picabia was "an outstanding example of a central aspect of Modern art, namely, art as individual self-expression" (ibid., p. xvii). The present work was painted circa 1942. In 1940, Picabia and his wife Olga had relocated to Golfe-Juan on the Côte d’Azur (see fig. 1). This move precipitated a period of paintings in which Picabia derived inspiration from local magazines, postcards and advertisements, inspired by the paraphernalia around him in this popular vacation destination. His works took on a tone of popular realism—and have even been cited as the precursor to the phenomenon of Pop Art during the 1960s. Picabia himself commented on the present work: “Showing from afar two figures swimming in the sea amongst the rocks... their bodies indistinguishable from the waves. The relaxed and sunny atmosphere of this scene makes one think of the universe of pornographic magazines” (quoted in Francis Picabia, Les Nus et la méthode (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 89, translated from the French).

The specific palette and flat planes of color that characterize the present work also invite comparison to the works of the Fauves, active thirty years prior. Indeed, Georges Braque and Émile-Othon Friesz in 1907 had painted these same calanques in a very comparable way (see fig. 2). This fusion of the Fauve style with his own particular innovation of popular realism encapsulates Picabia’s specific manner of conception and reflects the limitless breadth of his remarkable imagination.



This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné being prepared by the Comité Picabia.