Pablo Picasso’s Femme au chapeau
The Schnabel Collection, the Picasso at the foreground
Pablo Picasso’s Femme au chapeau highlights Christie’s sale of Schnabel’s collection
This iconic portrait, the largest Picasso created in his last years, will be a highlight of Christie’s Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on May 6, 2009. It is estimated to sell for $8-12 million
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Since 1989, Femme au chapeau has been a centerpiece of Mr. Schnabel’s personal art collection housedat Palazzo Chupi, his home and studio in Manhattan. Mounted in a place of pride on his livingroom wall, (pictured, page one) the portrait has been a source of daily inspiration to the artist for hismany creative pursuits. A celebrated visual artist, film director, and designer, Schnabel’s works arein the collections of major museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles,the Guggenheim Museums in Bilbao and New York; and the Smithsonian’s Hirschhorn Museumand Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. He is the highly-acclaimed director of the films TheDiving Bell and the Butterfly (2008), for which he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Director,Before Night Falls (2000), and Basquiat (1996).
Guy Bennett, International Co-head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s, comments: “It israre that we are given the opportunity to offer a great modern masterpiece from the collection ofsuch a prominent contemporary artist as Julian Schnabel. Just as Van Gogh’s influence is felt inPicasso’s late portraits, Picasso has in turn been a key source of inspiration for Mr. Schnabel in hisapproach to painting. Christie’s is honored to have been selected to present this exciting collectingopportunity as a special highlight of our upcoming Evening Sale.”
Painted August 26, 1971, Femme au chapeau bears the unmistakableproof of the astonishing vigor and tireless productivity of Picasso’sfinal years. The close-up portrait depicts a lone female figure with afierce gaze and a face reminiscent of the artist’s own. The immensesize of the canvas – over six feet in height – lends the portrait aparticularly imposing presence. Describing what drew him to thework, Mr. Schnabel commented: “The figure fills up the rectanglein a way that is very physical. The painting can be read as a selfportraitas well as a portrait of a woman. Picasso painted his ownimage into the head.”
In addition to its exceptional provenance, Femme au chapeau bears adistinguished exhibition history. It was featured in the second largeexhibition of Picasso’s late paintings at the Palais des Papes in Avignon that opened in May 1973,just one month after Picasso’s death on April 8. Preparations for the exhibition were already wellunder way before the artist’s death, and Picasso had personally selected all of the works that were tobe shown. Femme au chapeau, with her domineering stare, was installed atop a cruciform arrangementof paintings near the center of the large salle de l’audience.
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