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Woman in Gray (Femme en gris)

Pablo Picasso

European Art

Throughout his career, Pablo Picasso remained devoted to rendering the human face and figure with varying degrees of naturalism, likeness, and abstraction. Here, flat, interlocking shapes and juxtaposed tones form a bust-length portrait of a woman wearing a pointed collar, veil, and broad-brimmed hat. She may be based on the painter and photographer Dora Maar, Picasso’s companion in the early 1940s.
MEDIUM Oil on panel
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES 1942
    DIMENSIONS 39 1/4 × 31 7/8 in. (99.7 × 81 cm) frame: 51 1/4 × 43 3/4 × 4 in. (130.2 × 111.1 × 10.2 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed upper left: "Picasso"
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 2008.43
    CREDIT LINE Gift of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation in memory and in honor of Rita K. Hillman
    PROVENANCE Prior to 1945, provenance not yet documented; by 1945, acquired by Galerie Louis Carré, Paris, France; by 1948, acquired from Galerie Louis Carré by Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY; June 1948, purchased at Durand-Ruel Galleries sale, "Picasso," lot 9, by Alex L. Hillman and Rita Kanarck Hillman of New York, NY; by 1996, transferred to the Alex Hillman Family Foundation; 2008, gift of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation to the Brooklyn Museum.
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    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Woman in Gray (Femme en gris), 1942. Oil on panel, 39 1/4 × 31 7/8 in. (99.7 × 81 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation in memory and in honor of Rita K. Hillman, 2008.43. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008.43_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 2008.43_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005
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