Pablo Picasso

This installation occurred in the past. The archival installation summary below describes the installation as it was conceived while on view.

This special installation of work by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) showcases the recent promised gift from Emily Rauh Pulitzer of Picasso’s major painting Woman in a Red Hat. This impressive picture from 1934 shows Picasso’s French lover Marie-Thérèse Walter seated in front of a mirror examining herself as she plays with her necklace. The yellow frame of the mirror seems to allude to the curls of her blond hair. The painting is particularly notable for its vibrant color, evident in the bright red of the hat, which complements the green of the chair, and the strokes of lavender, blue, gray, and violet on Walter’s face.

In this installation, Woman in a Red Hat is placed within the context of other related works by Picasso from our collection. The large-scale Pitcher and Fruit Bowl is generally seen as a hidden portrait of a reclining Walter and has a similar palette of lavender, green, yellow, and red as Woman in a Red Hat. Prints and drawings from the 1930s, like The Minotauromachy and Woman with Tambourine, highlight Picasso’s ongoing fascination with imagery of women, including the Surrealist photographer Dora Maar. Another painting, Seated Woman from 1953, represents the artist Françoise Gilot and demonstrates Picasso’s trademark interest in the distortion of bodily form. As a group of works, the installation highlights Picasso’s innovative formal experiment with representation of the female body and the powerful presence of women in his life and art.

Pablo Picasso is curated by Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art.

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