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La Lecture – by Picasso
A portrait of the muse who transformed painter Pablo Picasso’s life and art went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London today. La Lecture depicts his secret lover, Marie-Therese Walter, who was 17 when Picasso, then 45, introduced himself as she stepped off a Paris train. Their relationship was kept secret for many years because of her age and because Picasso was married.
The 1932 painting was expected to fetch between £12m and £18m, but actually it went for £36m in the end (i.e. double).
Ms Walter inspired a number of works including La Reve as well as Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, both painted in 1932. Indeed, until La Lecture was painted, Ms Walter had only appeared in Picasso’s works in code with her features often embedded in the background of his paintings. It was when the picture was exhibited at a Picasso retrospective that the artist’s wife, Olga Khokhlova, realised there was another woman in his life and their marriage subsequently broke up.
Here is the painting for free!
Picasso (yet again) having a last laugh
The Gagosian gallery in Camden completed a very successful exhibiton of works earlier this year by the renowned artist Pablo Picasso. Including important portraits of Françoise, Claude, Paloma and his last great muse Jacqueline, linocuts, ceramics and several iconic sculptures (“La guenon et son petit”, 1951, “Petite fille sautant à la corde”, 1950, “La femme enceinte”, 1950, and “Sylvette, 1954), “Picasso: The Mediterranean Years” was organized around generous loans from members of the Picasso family of works that have come to be known as “Picasso’s Picassos”.
A retired electrician in southern France who worked for Pablo Picasso says he has hundreds of previously unknown works by the artist.
The treasure trove of 271 pieces includes lithographs, cubist paintings, notebooks and a watercolour and is said to be worth about €60m (equivalent £50.6m).
Pierre Le Guennec, 71, reportedly says Picasso gave him the works as gifts. Mr Le Guennec said he had worked installing alarm systems at a number of Picasso’s residences, including a villa in Cannes in the south of France, during the last three years of Picasso’s life – he died in 1973.
However, the estate’s administrators have filed a case for alleged llegal receipt of the works of art.
According to French newspaper Liberation, Picasso’s son, Claude doubted Mr Le Guennec’s explanation about how he came into possession of the works and contacted the Central Office for the Fight Against Traffic in Cultural Goods. Claude Picasso, quoted in Liberation, noted that his father was known for his generosity – but that he always dedicated, dated and signed his gifts, as he knew that some recipients might try to sell the works one day.
