A cocreator, with Georges Braque, of Cubism, Picasso responded to many different artistic stimuli throughout in his career. Nude Standing by the Sea testifies to his contribution to Surrealism, a movement that aspired to tap into and visualize psychological states of being, often through the distortion of the human body. Here, Picasso rearranged anatomical parts and altered the proportions of a standing nude, thereby creating an ambiguous sculptural mass. This rather threatening bather perhaps reflects Picasso’s inner turmoil over the dissolution of his marriage to Olga Khokhlova and his affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left, in black and gray paint): Picasso / 29
[Alex Reid and Lefevre, London, 1929–at least 1936; stock no. 491/29; probably purchased directly from the artist; co owned for this period in shares with Étienne Bignou, Paris and New York, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, London, Paris, and probably Valentine Dudensing, New York, from 1930]; Aline Barnsdall, Santa Barbara (until d. 1946; her estate, 1946–52; sold in March 1952 to Knoedler); [M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1952; sold, probably through Pierre Matisse, New York, in September 1952, for $12,500, to Marx]; Samuel and Florene Marx, Chicago (1952–his d. 1964); Florene May Marx, later Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn, New York (1964–d. 1995; on extended loan to the Museum of Modern Art from 1971; on extended loan to MMA from 1980; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Cent ans de peinture française," June 15–30, 1930, no. 56.
New York. Valentine Gallery. "Abstractions of Picasso," January 5–February 7, 1931, no. 15.
London. Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd. "Thirty Years of Pablo Picasso," June 1931, no. 31.
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Picasso," June 16–July 30, 1932, no. 187.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Picasso Retrospective, 1901–1931," September 11–October 30, 1932, extended to November 13, 1932, no. 187.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Cubism and Abstract Art," March 2–April 19, 1936, no. 231.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism," December 7, 1936–January 17, 1937, no. 257 (as "Metamorphosis [Bather]," lent by The Bignou Gallery, New York).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism," August 6–31, 1937, no. 257.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "French Paintings of the 19th and 20th Centuries Lent by California Museums and Private Collections," September 6–30, 1951, no catalogue.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: A 25th Anniversary Exhibition," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 119.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: 75th Anniversary Exhibition," May 22–September 8, 1957, unnumbered cat. (p. 66).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Picasso: 75th Anniversary Exhibition," October 29–December 8, 1957, unnumbered cat.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Picasso: A Loan Exhibition of His Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints and Illustrated Books," January 8–February 23, 1958, no. 120.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Surrealism, Then and Now," October 1–30, 1958, no. 36 (as "Figure by the Sea," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx, Chicago).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," November 2, 1965–January 2, 1966, unnumbered cat. (p. 27).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," February 11–March 27, 1966, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," April 26–June 13, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," July 2–August 7, 1966, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," September 2–October 2, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art," February 3–April 2, 1972, unnumbered cat. (p. 134).
Canberra. National Gallery of Australia. "Surrealism: Revolution by Night," March 12–May 2, 1993, no. 237.
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "Surrealism: Revolution by Night," May 21–July 11, 1993, no. 237.
Sydney. Art Gallery of New South Wales. "Surrealism: Revolution by Night," July 30–September 19, 1993, no. 237.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso and the Weeping Women: The Years of Marie-Thérèse Walter and Dora Maar," June 12–September 4, 1994, not in catalogue (brochure no. 13; as "Woman Standing by the Sea," lent by a private collection).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, brochure no. 18.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Pikaso ten: Kaikan 10-shunen kinen/Pablo Picasso: 10th Anniversary," July 4–September 6, 1998, no. 73.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Pikaso ten: Kaikan 10-shunen kinen/Pablo Picasso: 10th Anniversary," September 12–November 29, 1998, no. 73.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 103).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Surrealism: Desire Unbound," February 6–May 12, 2002, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 77.
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Picasso by Picasso. His First Museum Exhibition, 1932," October 15, 2010–January 30, 2011, no. 64.
New York. Gagosian Gallery. "L'Amour Fou: Picasso and Marie-Thérèse," April 21–July 15, 2011, unnumbered cat. (p. 113; as "Figure au bord de la mer").
Munich. Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. "Women: Picasso, Beckmann, de Kooning," March 30–July 15, 2012, no. 76 (as "Nude Standing by the Sea [Femme]).
Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "Pity and Terror: Picasso's Path to Guernica," April 5–September 4, 2017, unnumbered cat. (p. 83).
Maud Dale. Picasso. New York, 1930, pl. 43.
Georges Bataille, ed. "Hommage à Picasso." Documents 2, no. 3 (1930), p. 114, ill.
"The Bathing Beauty as Pablo Picasso Sees Her." Sketch 154 (June 3, 1931), p. 381, ill.
Lloyd Goodrich. "Exhibitions: Picasso's Latest." Arts 17 (March 1931), p. 414, ill.
Genaro Estrada. Genio y figura de Picasso. Mexico, 1936, p. 59, no. 187 (Exh. Paris 1932 checklist).
Alfred H. Barr Jr. inFantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism. Ed. Alfred H. Barr Jr. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1937, pp. 12, 263, no. 257, ill. n.p.
Juan Merli. Picasso: El artista y la obra de nuestro tiempo. Buenos Aires, 1942, p. 299, ill. p. 204.
Introduction by Alfred H. Barr Jr. "Paintings from Private Collections." Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 22 (Summer 1955), pp. 34, no. 119, ill. p. 22.
Frank Elgar and Robert Maillard. Picasso: Étude de l'oeuvre. Paris, 1955, p. 282, ill.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 7, Works from 1926 to 1932. New York and Paris, 1955, p. 101, no. 252, ill.
Franz Schulze. "Art News from Chicago." Art News 57 (October 1958), p. 45.
Felix Andreas Baumann. Pablo Picasso: Leben und Werk. Stuttgart, 1976, p. 120, fig. 210.
Pablo Picasso. Tokyo, 1981, pl. 161.
Lydia Gasman. "Mystery, Magic and Love in Picasso, 1925–1938: Picasso and the Surrealist Poets." PhD diss., Columbia University, 1981, pp. 350, 1673, pl. 114.
Christian Geelhaar. Picasso: Wegbereiter und Förderer seines Aufstiegs, 1899–1939. Zürich, 1993, pp. 186, 194, figs. 200 and 218.
Carol Vogel. "32 Works of Art by Masters Left to Met and the Modern." New York Times (November 25, 1996), p. A1.
Herschel Chipp and Alan Wofsy, ed. The Picasso Project: Picasso's Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture, A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue 1885-1973. Vol. 4, Toward Surrealism, 1925–1929. San Francisco, 1996, p. 196, no. 29-026, ill.
Grace Glueck. "A Surprise, and Then a Collection." New York Times (February 28, 1997), p. C31.
Mila Andre. "Bien merci, Mme Schoenborn." Daily News (February 14, 1997), p. 63.
Grace Glueck. "When One City Was the Heart of Art's Youth." New York Times (March 10, 2000), p. E39.
Anne Baldassari. Bacon–Picasso: The Life of Images. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 2005, p. 81, fig. 60.
Julia May Boddewyn in Michael FitzGerald. Picasso and American Art. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2006, pp. 337, 344, 373, 376.
Michael FitzGerald. Picasso and American Art. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2006, p. 127, fig. 60.
John Richardson with Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 3, The Triumphant Years: 1917-1932. New York, 2007, pp. 366–67, ill.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 11.
Magdalena Dabrowski inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 212–14, no. 77, ill. (color).
Shawn Digney-Peer inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 214.
T. J. Clark inPity and Terror: Picasso's Path to Guernica. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 2017, pp. 40, 42, 184, ill. p. 83 (color).
Lanka Tattersall. "Margaret Scolari Barr." Inventing the Modern: Untold Stories of the Women Who Shaped The Museum of Modern Art. Ed. Ann Temkin and Romy Silver-Kohn. New York, 2025, ill. p. 108 (installation photo, Exh. Paris 1932).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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