Sotheby’s London struck gold with yet another Picasso painting Buste de femme de profil, which sold for US$36 million last week.
The 1932 portrait, like many other of Picasso’s paintings, depicts his ‘golden muse’ and lover Marie-Thérèse Walter in a private moment, lost in her writings. Perhaps in keeping with a affectionate phase in their relationship, the portrait is a tender one, focusing on her youth and beauty. Picasso imagines her in the act of writing with downcast eyes, contemplating on the paper in front of her, as her profile is lit up by a mellow sunlight through an open window. The scene seems inspired by real life and was definitely a composition which stayed with Picasso, as he returned to it in a smaller-scale work sometime later.
1932 was a particularly important phase in Picasso’s oeuvre, as this was the year when he publicly professed his love for Marie-Thérèse Walter, leading him to paint her portraits more prolifically.