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Head of a Woman

1909
Not on view
This drawing was made near the start of Picasso’s artistic thinking about his companion Fernande Olivier. She poses with arms behind her head, which is turned up and out (similar to the central figure in the artist’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907, Museum of Modern Art). Picasso used the large areas of unmarked paper and densely hatched ink lines to explore the mass of her head, flattening and distorting her features along the length of the sheet. The work was once owned by Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and New York gallery owner who gave Picasso his first exhibition in United States in 1911.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Head of a Woman
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: 1909
  • Medium: Ink and charcoal on paper
  • Dimensions: 25 1/8 × 19 1/2 in. (63.8 × 49.5 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
  • Object Number: 49.70.28
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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