Lot Essay
This still-life is one of three related works that Picasso painted at Boisgeloup in early April 1934. The other two canvases are dated April 7 (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 195) and April 10 (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 197). Of the three, the present picture is the most naturalistic; and since the one painted on April 10 is the most abstract of the three, it is likely that the present picture was painted first, during the first week of April.
It is well-known that Picasso's still-lifes are often full of coded references, especially to love and sex. The transformational and metaphorical nature of Picasso's still-lifes is especially clear in his work from 1934. Beginning in February of that year, he created a series of paintings and drawings in which he freely mixed elements of still-life, figuration and pure abstraction. These works often feature a nude female posed on a table in front of a window and rendered in various metaphoric styles: for example, composed of biomorphic forms reminiscent of fruit in a still-life (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 92); in a naturalistic, if highly stylized, manner (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 114); or as an extraordinary mix of organic and geometric shapes (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 172). The freedom with which Picasso moved from one representational style to another in these works is clearest in the so-called "construction" drawings he made in February of that year (Zervos, vol. 8, nos. 171-180).
Although seemingly more traditional, the present painting--and the two closely associated paintings from Boisgeloup--continues the themes that Picasso had explored earlier in the year. The cloth draped over the table falls in triangle-like sections which trace the forms of a nude female body. This is especially clear at the right, where the cloth falls in the shape of the upper thighs, pudenda and lower torso of a woman. The bowl of fruit, on the other hand, is full of phallic puns, a common theme in Picasso's still-lifes. That figuration is encoded in the present work is also suggested by comparison with the painting from April 10, where the shapes are explicitly anthropomorphic.
It is well-known that Picasso's still-lifes are often full of coded references, especially to love and sex. The transformational and metaphorical nature of Picasso's still-lifes is especially clear in his work from 1934. Beginning in February of that year, he created a series of paintings and drawings in which he freely mixed elements of still-life, figuration and pure abstraction. These works often feature a nude female posed on a table in front of a window and rendered in various metaphoric styles: for example, composed of biomorphic forms reminiscent of fruit in a still-life (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 92); in a naturalistic, if highly stylized, manner (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 114); or as an extraordinary mix of organic and geometric shapes (Zervos, vol. 8, no. 172). The freedom with which Picasso moved from one representational style to another in these works is clearest in the so-called "construction" drawings he made in February of that year (Zervos, vol. 8, nos. 171-180).
Although seemingly more traditional, the present painting--and the two closely associated paintings from Boisgeloup--continues the themes that Picasso had explored earlier in the year. The cloth draped over the table falls in triangle-like sections which trace the forms of a nude female body. This is especially clear at the right, where the cloth falls in the shape of the upper thighs, pudenda and lower torso of a woman. The bowl of fruit, on the other hand, is full of phallic puns, a common theme in Picasso's still-lifes. That figuration is encoded in the present work is also suggested by comparison with the painting from April 10, where the shapes are explicitly anthropomorphic.