Picasso painted this work, one of his best-known neoclassical pictures, upon his return to Paris after a summer sojourn in Cap d'Antibes. There, he and his wife, Olga, socialized with the charismatic American expatriates Gerald and Sara Murphy. Because Sara Murphy had beautifully regular features, some writers believe that this canvas is a portrait of her. However, photographs that Picasso took of Olga posing in front of related classical heads demonstrate that at least she thought they were depictions of her.
This picture belonged to the New York collector Lillie P. Bliss, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. She bequeathed the painting to the Modern, from whom the Metropolitan purchased the work in 1951 as part of a cooperative agreement (1947-53).

Signature: Signed, lower right: P¦icasso¦

[Paul Guillaume, Paris, from 1926; bought at Salon du Franc, Paris, on October 29, 1926, for 79,000 francs]; [Étienne Bignou, Paris]; [Alex Reid and Lefevre, London, by 1927]; [Kraushaar Galleries, New York, 1927; sold to Bliss]; Lillie P. Bliss, New York (1927–d. 1931; her estate, 1931–34; bequest to The Museum of Modern Art); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1934–51; acc. no. 96.34; deaccessioned in September 1947 for sale to MMA; sale completed in 1951; transferred in December 1953)

Paris: Musée Galliera, L'Art français au service du franc, 1926 (as "Une Femme en chemise", not listed in cat.; see Beaux-Arts, IV, 1926, p. 288).

Glasgow: McLellan Galleries, A Century of French Painting, 1927 (exhibition organized by Reid and Lefevre, London), no. 55.

New York: Kraushaar Galleries, Modern French Paintings, Water-Colors and Drawings, 1927, no. 17.

New York: Museum of Modern Art, Painting in Paris, 1930, no. 73 (lent from a private collection); and 1931, Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lillie P. Bliss, no. 101.

Andover, Massachusetts: Addison Gallery The Collection of Miss Lillie P. Bliss, 1931, no. 78.

Indianapolis, Indiana: John Herron Art Institute, Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lillie P. Bliss, 1932,no. 74.

Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress, 1933, no. 407 (lent by the Trustees of the Estate of Miss Lillie P. Bliss through the Museum of Modern Art).

New York: Museum of Modern Art, The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, 1934, no. 48; and 1934-1935, Modern Works of Art, no. 129.

Northampton, Massachusetts: Smith College Museum of Art, Paintings from the Lillie P. Bliss Collection, 1935, (lent by the Museum of Modern Art)

Dallas, Texas: Museum of Fine Arts, Texas Centennial Exhibition, 1936, cat., p. 37 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art)

Boston: Museum of Modern Art, Picasso; Henri Matisse, 1938 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art)

Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1938, Paintings of Women, no. 57 (lent. by the Museum of Modern Art)

New York: Museum of Modern Art, New York, Art in Our Time, 1939, no. 160, ill.

New York: Museum of Modern Art; Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1939, Picasso: Forty Years of His Art, no. 179, included in the section of the exhibition circulated in 1940-1941 to Cincinnati Museum of Art, Isaac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

Mexico City: Sociedad de Arte Moderno, Primera Exposición: Picasso, 1944, cat. p. 42 (lent by the Museum of Modern Art)

Denver: Denver Art Museum, Picasso, 1945, (lent by. the Museum of Modern Art)

Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, Fifty Years of Modern Art, 1966

¦Picasso¦, Louisiana Cultural Center, Humlebaek, Denmark, September 30–November 10, 1968.

¦100 Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York¦, The Hermitage Museum, Lenningrad, 1975; The Pushkin Museum, Moscow, 1975.

¦Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Memories and Revivals of Classical Spirit¦, National Pinakotiki Alexander Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece, September 3–December 2, 1979, p. 285, no. 114. (ill. in color)

¦Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective¦, Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 22–September 16, 1980, ill. p. 242.

¦20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art¦, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia, March 1–April 27, 1986; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, May 7–July 1, 1986, ill. p. 15. (ill. in color)

¦Picasso Classico¦, Palicio Epicopal of Malaga, Malaga, Spain, October 10, 1992–January 11, 1993, no. 43. (ill.)

¦Picasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation¦, Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 28–September 17, 1996; Grand Palais, Paris, October 1996–January 1997, ill. p. 57. (ill. in color)

¦Matisse, Picasso and Friends¦, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, February 20–April 20, 1997.

¦Picasso 1917-1924¦, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, March 14–July 12, 1998, p. 291, no. 217. (ill. in color)

¦Painters in Paris, 1895-1950¦, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, March 8–December 31, 2000, ill. p. 45. (ill. in color)

¦Picasso and the School of Paris, Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art¦, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto,Japan, September 14–November 24, 2002; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, December 7, 2000–March 9, 2003, ill. p. 99, plate 41. (ill. in color)

¦Picasso: The Classical Period¦, C&M ARTS, New York, September 24–December 13, 2003, no. 21. (ill. in color)

Michael Fitzgerald, with a chronology by Julia May Boddewyn, ¦Picasso and American Art¦, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, September 28, 2006 - January 28, 2007; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, February 25 - May 28, 2007; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, June 17 - September 9, 2007, ill. p. 102, plate 47, checklist p. 387, p. 100 (discussed). (New York only)

Chaos and Classicism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, October 1, 2010- January 9, 2011; Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa, February 7, 2011- May 15, 2011

Barr, Alfred H. Jr. Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art. New York, 1946, pp.128f., ill., dates this picture 1923.

Elgar, P. and Maillard, R. Picasso, 1956, p. 107, ill. in color p. 134.

Gaya Nuño, J. A. Picasso, 1950, p. 19, pl. 29.

MacKenzie, H.F. Understanding Picasso, 1940, pl. XI, connects this picture with others, of the same period and discusses the sources of Picasso's classical style.

Merli, J. Picasso (1942), ill. in color, opp. p. 184.

Pène du Bois, G. The Arts, XVII (1931), p. 611.

Rubin, William. "The Pipes of Pan: Picasso's Aborted Love Song to Sara Murphy," Art News, 93, no. 5 (May 1994), pp. 138-147.

Rubin, William. "Reflections on Picasso and Portraiture," in Picasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996, pp. 49-58, p. 57, illustrated in color.

Sterling, Charles and Margetta Salinger. French Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. III, XIX-XX Centuries. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 235f, illustrated.

Tinterow, Gary. Picasso Clasico. Malaga Spain: Consejerin de Cultura y Medio Ambiente, 1992, cat. no. 43.

Vallentin, A. Pablo Picasso, 1957, p. 262.

Wilenski, R.H. Modern French Painters, 1940, p. 300, analyzes the works of 1923, finds this picture reminiscent of Masaccio.

Zervos, Christian. Pablo Picasso, vol. 5, Paris, 1952, pl. 1, no. 1 (titled "Femme assise les bras croisés; 1923).