Le chien dalmate

Details

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Le chien dalmate
signed and dated 'Picasso 18.3.59' (upper left); dated '18.3.59' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76¾ x 55 in. (195 x 139.8 cm.)
Painted in March 1959

Provenance

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (no. 08623).
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1987.

Literature

D. Giraudy, La Mémoire du Regard, Paris, 1986, no. 132 (illustrated).

Exhibited

London, Arts Council of Great Britain, Picasso Retrospective, 1960, no. 265 (on loan from Galerie Louise Leiris).
Munich, Documenta III Kassel, 1964, no. 270 (on loan from Galerie Louise Leiris).
Turku, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Museum of Contemporary Art, Ibérica - Espanjalaisen taiteen nãyttely, September - November 2005.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

During February and March 1959, Picasso painted a number of pictures showing the same Dalmatian in front of various monumental and architectural items of furniture. Le chien dalmate is one of these pictures, painted in mid-March 1959, when Picasso was about to move from the Villa la Californie to his new home, the Château de Vauvenargues. He was already making frequent and longer trips to Vauvenargues, and is documented as being there the day after Le chien dalmate was painted; he must therefore have painted Le chien dalmate there too.

In David Douglas Duncan's book, Goodbye Picasso (new York, 1974), a photograph of the first meal at the Château shows the family, accompanied by Roland Penrose, around the table. Next to the painter is the familiar form of Perro, the Dalmatian, who likewise is the subject in Le chien dalmate.

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