Pablo Picasso
Les Femmes d’Alger (Version “O”)
Estimate in the region of $140 million
Picasso’s ‘Femmes d’Alger’ could fetch $140 million On May 2015, Christie’s will offer Pablo Picasso’s ‘Les femmes d’Alger (Version “O”)’, an important work painted in 1955. Christie’s has estimated the work to realize in the region of US$140 million.]]>
March 25, 2015, source: Christie’s
This painting will be one of several masterpieces offered in ‘Looking Forward to the Past’, a sale created in the spirit of the many great curated auctions Christie’s has organized in New York and London in recent years. This majestic, vibrantly-hued painting is the final and most highly finished work from Picasso’s 1954-55 series in which he looked back to 19th century French master Eugene Delacroix for inspiration, and in the process created a new style of painting. Previously sold at Christie’s in 1997, as part of the legendary record-breaking sale of the Collection of Victor and Sally Ganz, this iconic work promises to cause a sensation on the global art market this spring.
Picasso painted a series of fifteen variations on Delacroix’s “Les femmes d’Alger” between December 1954 and February 1955, designated as versions A through O. Throughout his series, Picasso references the Spanish master’s two versions of the shared subject, intermingling their elements. Picasso is quoted as having an imaginary conversation with Delacroix, “You had Rubens in mind, and painted a Delacroix. I paint [the Les femmes d’Alger series] with you in mind, and make something different again,” (ed. M. McCully, A Picasso Anthology: Documents, Criticism, Reminiscences, London, 1997, p. 251).
“Les femmes d’Alger, (Version “O”) is the culmination of a herculean project which Picasso started after Matisse’s death, in homage to his lost friend and competitor, and which over a period of 2 months and after nearly 100 studies on paper and 14 other paintings led to the creation of this phenomenal canvas in February 1955. With its packed composition, play on cubism and perspective, its violent colors, and its brilliant synthesis of Picasso’s lifelong obsessions, it is a milestone in Picasso’s oeuvre and one of his most famous masterpieces, together with ‘Les demoiselles d’Avignon’, 1907 and ‘Guernica’, 1937. One can arguably say that this is the single most important painting by Picasso to remain in private hands. Its sale on 11 May will be a watershed moment in the market for 20th century art,” stated Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s.
Related content
Sotheby’s to offer Picasso’s ‘Femme au chignon dans un fauteuil’ from the Goldwyn Collection (news, March 2015)
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