The original oil canvas of a large-scale portrait of Pablo Picasso by his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter, painted in the critical year 1932, will come to auction for the first time next month at Christie's in New York.
Painted on January 18, 1932, “Nature morte à la fenêtre” has a pre-sale estimate of around US$40 million. The painting was kept in the artist's estate, having been exhibited only twice. It disappeared from public view for nearly five decades until 1981. The work was originally among 10,000 works by Picasso that his granddaughter Marina Picasso inherited it, and has been discharging it to finance his charitable work. It was then acquired by the late Swiss art dealer Jan Krugier, who guided Marina selling Picasso's art until his death in 2008. The painting was then inherited by Krugier's descendants, who put the work up for sale.
The artwork, noted Vanessa Fusco, head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie's and co-head of the 20th Century Evening Sale, was "created from the beginning of Picasso's annus mirabilis," underpinning "the powerful influence of Marie-Thérèse and the great flowering of activity she inspired in his art, from drawing to sculpture, from engraving to painting.”
The year 1932 was widely recognized as a pivotal year in Picasso's career. He created more than 100 important works that year, including several portraits of Walter, then 22, the artist's secret lover while he was married to ballerina Olga Khokhlova, his grandmother. Marina. The work, which will go on sale in May, was presented in the acclaimed Tate Modern 2018 exhibition “Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy”.
Unlike Picasso's subsequent portraits of Walter, which are generally characterized by warmer colors and the curvaceous body of the woman with whom he was madly in love, “Nature morte à la fenêtre” is much more serene and subtle. There is no representation of Walter's curves. Instead, there is a profile of her bust on what appears to be a block of wood, next to a plate of fruit and a pot of plants against the backdrop of an open window. The color palette is quite pale and delicate.