Executed in 1932 at the pinnacle of Picasso’s impassioned affair, Femme à la montre exists as one of the most resolved and complex depictions from this highly charged year.
The rapturous period from which Femme à la montre originates has been described by the artist’s biographer John Richardson as Picasso’s annus mirabilis or ‘year of wonders.’ In 1932, Picasso worked at a feverish pace, ceaselessly inspired by his new muse’s presence and the longing felt in her absence. Utterly consumed by his amour fou-the Surrealist notion of an obsessional, vortex-like desire-each work from this period reads like an entry in a diary, documenting the pair’s evolving relationship. Among the artist’s 1932 works, it is the monumental canvases like Femme à la montre, which unapologetically announce Marie-Thérèse’s presence, that are most widely acclaimed for their singular importance in Picasso's oeuvre.
In this video Sotheby’s Vice Chairman of Global Fine Arts, Simon Shaw, walks through the painting’s beautiful vibrant pigments, Picasso’s history and more. Femme à la montre will be sold at The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Evening Auction on November 8 2023.
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