Picasso Portrait of his Lover to go under the Hammer at Christies estimate £20 Million!!!!
(January 31, 2014)
A rare portrait by Pablo Picasso is to be offered at auction by Christie’s on February 4. The painting depicts his lover and future wife Jacqueline Roque, and is estimated to sell for between £15m and £20m.
This is the first time the portrait, Femme au costume turc dans un fauteuil (1955), will be offered at auction in over 55 years. It shows Roque dressed in the orientalist costume of an odalisque, or a dancer in a Turkish harem. It was painted three years after they first met, and six years before their marriage. As well as his wife, Roque later came to be known as one of the most important muses of Picasso’s career.
Picasso created a number of variations upon Eugène Delacroix’s work Les femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement, which is currently in the collection of the Louvre in Paris. Picasso reworked the piece from 1954 to 1955, returning to the theme many times in the following year.
This work is part of a series of portraits of women dressed in the odalisque costume, influenced by Delacroix, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Henri Matisse, who had explored the theme extensively and had passed away the previous year.
Jay Vincze, international director and head of the Impressionist and Modern Art Department of Christie’s London, said that they are “very honoured to be offering Picasso’s powerful portrait of his great love Jacqueline Roque, which comes to auction for the first time in over 55 years.”
“Such a major work from this important series has not been seen at auction since Femme accroupie au costume turc, Jacqueline was sold at Christie’s New York for $30.8m in November 2007,” he continued.
“Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale,” Christie’s London, 4 February 2014
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