Pablo Picasso
Available Works
Archived Works
Picasso is undoubtedly one of the most important and widely celebrated modern masters and his work continues to generate huge sales in the auction rooms as well as sustained interest from critics and curators. Alongside Hirst at the Tate Modern, the Tate Britain is set to host a major exhibition of Picasso’s work that will run from the 15th February until July 2012. The show will showcase 150 pieces assembled from both private and public collections and aims to examine the depth of British engagement with Picasso’s work during the artist’s lifetime.
His profound influence on the development of twentieth century modernism will be made clear through a consideration of how artists such as Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Francis Bacon responded to his work. The scope of his artistic influence cannot be recounted enough, with David David Hockney reportedly having visited Picasso’s 1960 Tate exhibition on at least eight separate occasions. With such an astounding legacy attributed to his name, it is no surprise that works by Picasso continue to find the warmest of receptions on the art market. In fact, the most expensive painting
ever to be sold at auction is his Nude, Green Leaves and Bust that was bought for $106.5 million last year at Christie’s in New York. This year, the auction house has again had a phenomenal start to the year, with first half sales totalling £2 billion. The sale of works by Picasso have no doubt significantly contributed to this success. In June, Femme Assise, Robe Bleue, a portrait of the artist’s beloved mistress Dora Maar, went for a staggering £18
million. Married twice with a great many mistresses and four children by three different women, Picasso’s relationships form an intriguing part of his personal story and during the same June auction, portraits of two more of his lovers achieved significant price tags. Jeune Fille Endormie featured Marie Therese Walter and was given by an anonymous donor to the University of Sydney to fund medical research into obesity. Giovanna Bertanzonni,
Director of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie’s, said it was ‘an absolute jewel of a painting by one of the greatest artistic geniuses in western art’ and it sold for £13.5 million. Buste de Francoise referencing Francoise Gilot, who was said to have revitalised Picasso’s art after the Second World War, also sold for £10.7 million.
With investors wanting to guard themselves against the volatile and uncertain economic climate, works of quality, by wellrespected names are competitively sought after. It may therefore be of interest to some of you that we have recently acquired eleven works by Picasso. These include lithographs that were produced in the 1960s and come from a limited edition seriesof 300. They showcase elements of synthetic cubism, whereby Picasso began to use collage as a way of integrating fragments of real objects such as newspaper clippings, advertisements and playing cards into his art. The star attraction of the collection is a wonderful etching of three women that highlights Picasso’s interest in the ‘primitive’ artwork produced in non-western cultures. He believed this to have a more forceful expressiveness and stronger emotional presence than could be found in the history of western art.
Written by Kyle Reeves
