The secret of many of my deformations—which many people do not understand—is that there is an interaction, an intereffect between the lines in a painting: one line attracts the other and at the point of maximum attraction the lines curve in toward the attracting point and form is altered.
Pablo Picasso
André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto was published in October 1924. Picasso never laid claim to being a surrealist. By offering an alternative to the illusionistic imitation of reality, however, the inventor of cubism laid the groundwork for the movement to exist and engaged in parallel processes of experimentation, working instinctively and refusing to rein in any excess in his anatomical representations. As a result, the eyes, nose, and mouth of his subjects were no longer where they should be, but merely where the whim of the painter placed them.
Beginning with the sets he created for the ballet Mercury (Mercure) in 1924, Picasso’s bodies lost their thickness, becoming floating, ghostly figures whose lines were emancipated from the associated colored backgrounds. The art critic Christian Zervos would later refer to the enigmatic works of Picasso created between 1926 and 1930 as “magic paintings.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Head of a Woman (Tête de femme)
1925
Etching on zinc
Proof on paper, printed by the artist
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP2045
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Bust of a Woman (Buste de femme)
1925
Etching on zinc
Proof on paper, printed by the artist
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP2046
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Head of a Woman, Front and Profile
(Tête de femme, face et profil)
1925
Etching on zinc
Proof on paper, printed by the artist
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP2047
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Head of a Woman with Short Hair
(Tête de femme aux cheveux courts)
Fall–winter 1925
Etching on zinc
Proof on paper, printed by the artist
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP2048
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
The Sculptor (Le Sculpteur)
Paris, December 7, 1931
Oil on plywood
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP135
In Picasso’s art, the early 1930s were largely dominated by sculpture. It is therefore entirely natural that this studio scene should show a bearded sculptor, an image inspired by canons of classical antiquity, meditating in front of a bust representing Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was then Picasso’s lover and muse. The figures, composed of a tangle of sinuous forms, mark a new evolution in the representation of bodies that began in the 1920s. The palette of pastel tones, characteristic of the period, creates a soft and luminous atmosphere.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Figure
1931
Wire
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Purchase, 1998, former Dora Maar collection. MP1999-17
By simply twisting two wires, Picasso employs an extreme economy of means for this small male figure who appears to be dancing. The artist’s spontaneous, minimalist gesture testifies to his inventiveness and his ability to transform any material passing through his hands into something truly creative. The final result, however modest, is the playful transposition of a linear three-dimensional drawing. Dora Maar, to whom Picasso gave the sculpture, treasured it until her death in 1997.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
The Acrobat (L’Acrobate)
Paris, January 18, 1930
Oil on canvas
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP120
Perhaps inspired by the performances of the Cirque Medrano that he attended with his son Paulo, in the early 1930s Picasso returned to the theme of acrobats, which had occupied him in 1905. This composition, in which the slender and androgynous body occupies a space tailored to its measurements, is a visual equation of movement: the acrobat, fixed, shows itself as the translation of a series of poses on the athlete’s contorted body. Fascinated by the ability of the human form and its power for metamorphosis, Picasso captures a kind of “surreality” in it.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Figure: Project for a monument to Guillaume Apollinaire
(Figure: Projet pour un monument à Guillaume Apollinaire)
Paris, fall 1928
Wire and sheet metal
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP264
This sculpture is a maquette Picasso produced for a commission—a tribute to his close friend Guillaume Apollinaire. Picasso was inspired by the collection The Poet Assassinated (1916), in which Apollinaire describes a funeral monument made of “emptiness, nothingness.” Like a drawing in space, the human figure here consists only of thin metal rods, with a simple disc for the head. Because it was contrary to the traditional approach to commemorative statuary, the design was judged to be too radical, and rejected.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Painter with Palette at His Easel (Peintre à la palette et au chevalet)
[Paris], 1928
Oil on canvas
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP104
The theme of the painter and his model, a true tribute to the creative act, reappears cyclically in Picasso’s work. It received special attention in the late 1920s and resulted in a major series of paintings and drawings in 1928. This version focuses on the figure of the painter, here holding a palette and brushes. The body, consisting merely of clear lines that define geometric shapes, is pushed to the limits of figuration. The head, symbolized by an arrow shape, consists of the meeting of two profiles (one black, the other white).
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Nude on a White Background (Nu sur fond blanc)
[Paris], 1927
Oil on canvas
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP102
This canvas is emblematic of the “magic paintings” described by the critic Christian Zervos. A silhouette consisting of a single continuous line, as if superimposed on a disjointed colored background, depicts an empty body without organs, seemingly suspended in space. With its amplified sexual attributes, protruding belly, pointed breast, and central genitals, Picasso resorts to an archaic vocabulary of signs with powerful radicalism. The hair standing on end and disproportionately toothy mouth create a somewhat menacing image of metamorphosed femininity.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
The Kiss (Le Baiser)
Juan-les-Pins, summer 1925
Oil on canvas
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP85
Throughout the 1920s, the young revolutionary generation of surrealists, inspired by psychoanalysis and non-Western arts, was a breath of fresh air when it came to creative freedom, something echoed in Picasso’s production. With its almost kabbalistic flood of motifs and bright colors, this powerfully erotic canvas celebrates carnal union with a savage mixture of interlocking shapes that reveal bodies fusing together.
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Woman with a Ruffle
(Femme à la collerette)
Juan-les-Pins, summer 1926
Oil on canvas
Musée national Picasso-Paris
Pablo Picasso Acceptance in Lieu, 1979. MP97
