Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

‘Through all these manifold scenes Picasso is asking himself the question, “What is a painter? A man who works with brushes, a dauber, and unrecognized genius, or a demiurge, a creator who mistakes himself for God?”’
M. Bernadac, exh. cat., Late Picasso, London, 1988, p. 76.

Executed just three years before the end of his life, Picasso’s Le peintre sees the culmination of a theme to which the artist continually returned throughout his life: the artist painting in his studio. Becoming a genre in and of itself, these works see the studio becoming a stage upon which Picasso could play out ideas, fantasies and alternative identities. It is here that he interacted with myriad characters, from minotaurs to voluptuous models; and here that, alone, he confronted the very essence of his existence.

In the present work, the artist is depicted in isolation. Poised as if to make his first marks on the blank canvas, the scene unfolds around the central vertical stroke of bright white. Picasso’s mark here – bold, calligraphic and self-assured – signposts a renewed sense of vigour and resolve which typifies his later works.

Picasso’s depictions of the artist in his studio are highly sought after by museums and private collectors. They form part of many prominent collections worldwide, including the Tate, London, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.