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Lot Essay
While Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are rightly credited with inventing Cubism, it was Metzinger who most decisively shaped the movement’s direction by founding a Cubist school and articulating its ideas in writing. In 1911, Metzinger united like-minded artists—Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, and himself—to exhibit at the Salon des Indépendants, officially launching Cubism in Paris. That same year, Albert Gleizes praised Metzinger as the "Emperor of Cubism," recognizing the profound influence his work would have on the evolution of modern painting (quoted in J. Moser, Metzinger in Retrospect, Iowa City, 1985, p. 44).
By 1912, when this work was painted, Metzinger was a driving force behind the Section d’Or exhibition at Galerie la Boétie, the most comprehensive pre-war Cubist showcase. He also co-authored Du Cubisme with Gleizes, the first full philosophical articulation of this revolutionary visual language. Metzinger aimed to reinvent the depiction of reality, famously stating in 1910: “For us the Greeks invented the human form; we must reinvent it for others” (quoted in Art in Theory, Malden, 1997, p. 177).
Elegant and prismatic, Cinq femmes exemplifies Metzinger’s Cubist vision. From a complex array of geometric fragments and angular planes emerge five nude women. The leftmost holds a shimmering emerald fan, while two reclining figures share a pink and black polka-dot scarf wrapped around their legs. In the background, an abstracted bridge, buildings, and a crane hint at the avant-garde’s interest in new technology and urban developments.
Though touches of turquoise, pink, and white enliven the palette, it is dominated by gradients of green, brown, orange and flesh tones. These subtle shifts in light and shadow create an illusion of three-dimensional movement. By employing multiple, often competing perspectives, Metzinger’s work presents life as fluid and mutable, offering new ways of seeing and understanding the world.
By 1912, when this work was painted, Metzinger was a driving force behind the Section d’Or exhibition at Galerie la Boétie, the most comprehensive pre-war Cubist showcase. He also co-authored Du Cubisme with Gleizes, the first full philosophical articulation of this revolutionary visual language. Metzinger aimed to reinvent the depiction of reality, famously stating in 1910: “For us the Greeks invented the human form; we must reinvent it for others” (quoted in Art in Theory, Malden, 1997, p. 177).
Elegant and prismatic, Cinq femmes exemplifies Metzinger’s Cubist vision. From a complex array of geometric fragments and angular planes emerge five nude women. The leftmost holds a shimmering emerald fan, while two reclining figures share a pink and black polka-dot scarf wrapped around their legs. In the background, an abstracted bridge, buildings, and a crane hint at the avant-garde’s interest in new technology and urban developments.
Though touches of turquoise, pink, and white enliven the palette, it is dominated by gradients of green, brown, orange and flesh tones. These subtle shifts in light and shadow create an illusion of three-dimensional movement. By employing multiple, often competing perspectives, Metzinger’s work presents life as fluid and mutable, offering new ways of seeing and understanding the world.