Woman in Profile
This painting belongs to a small group of pictures of extravagantly dressed women that evoke the Parisian demimonde of dance halls and brothels. The electric palette and broad dabs of paint relate it to other works that Picasso painted in Madrid in spring 1901, in anticipation of his upcoming show at the Galerie Vollard in Paris.
Picasso arrived in Paris in May 1901 with a good number of paintings, pastels, and drawings, but not enough for his show. Installing himself at a Parisian studio, he may have made as many as three pictures a day in order to achieve the sixty-three catalogued items plus the dozens of uncatalogued drawings that were ultimately exhibited. Given the artist's chameleon-like changes of style, it is now impossible to discern which of the pictures exhibited at Vollard's were painted in Madrid and Barcelona in early 1901 and which were painted in Paris in the days preceding the opening.
Picasso arrived in Paris in May 1901 with a good number of paintings, pastels, and drawings, but not enough for his show. Installing himself at a Parisian studio, he may have made as many as three pictures a day in order to achieve the sixty-three catalogued items plus the dozens of uncatalogued drawings that were ultimately exhibited. Given the artist's chameleon-like changes of style, it is now impossible to discern which of the pictures exhibited at Vollard's were painted in Madrid and Barcelona in early 1901 and which were painted in Paris in the days preceding the opening.
Artwork Details
- Title: Woman in Profile
- Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
- Date: 1901
- Medium: Oil on paperboard mounted on particle board
- Dimensions: 20 1/2 × 13 1/4 in. (52.1 × 33.7 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998
- Object Number: 1999.363.58
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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