Picasso

As I’ve stated in previous blogs, Gagosian is much more a museum than a commercial gallery. In their exhibition titled Picasso and Marie Therese, L'Amour Fou, all of the paintings and sculptures by Picasso were on loan from private collections and institutions and were not for sale. They were on view solely to showcase his most beloved paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints inspired by one of his most infamous models and enduring passions, Marie-Thérèse. The show spanned the years from 1927 to 1940 and included several works that were never before seen in the US. It was curated not only by renowned experts on the artist but also by the granddaughter of Marie-Thérèse, art historian Diana Widmaier Picasso.

In her book titled Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Ingo F. Walther states: “there can be no doubt that, both in quantity and in quality, Picasso’s art is unparalleled and that his paintings, sculptures, etchings and ceramics reveal the hand of someone who deserve to be called Genius of the Century.” Just the very name ‘Picasso’ holds so much meaning to the history of art – his is a name that truly stands alone. When one even attempts to discuss Picasso, there is a common theme to his life and to his art that cannot be avoided: his mistresses. They were the basis for many of his most fantastic works. He lived out his emotions for the countless women through the paintings he created of them. And he had enough pieces of one, Marie-Thérèse, to fill room after room.

In 1927, on a street in Paris, Picasso saw the nearly 18-year-old Marie-Thérèse and became infatuated by her immediately. “I am Picasso,” he announced – but she was unaware of his reputation. He proceeded to take her to a bookshop where he showed her a monograph of his paintings. Picasso asked to see her again, she agreed, and so their secret affair began. Gagosian says it best: “More than any other woman that Picasso desired and painted, Marie-Thérèse, with her statuesque body and strong, pure profile, fueled his imagination with a luminous dream of youth.” Picasso was married at the time of their meeting, and so, he did not overtly interject her image into his works. Rather, her first appearances in his paintings were veiled references. What followed was the arrival of a fully formed blond figure, which announced the new love in his life. Picasso would use innovative ways to reinvent her recognizable form, and “his paintings and sculptures of her granted her immortality as an art historical subject.”

While it is true that Gagosian did not sell any of the works depicting Marie-Thérèse, we have one recent value at auction that is truly mind blowing. Picasso’s La Lecture made nearly $41,000,000 at Sotheby’s in February 2011. See the article/image below.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/arts/10iht-melik10.html