Signed by Picasso and dated July 11, 1943, the painting was purchased in August 1944 by a prominent French collector
A dora maar portrait with a colorful flowered hat, painted by Pablo Picasso in 1943 during the Nazi occupation and unknown to the public, was revealed on Thursday in Paris, at Hôtel Douot.
Titled “Woman Bust with Flowering Chapéu”, this 80×60 centimeter oil painting portrays the photographer, the Surrealist muse, who was Picasso’s companion for about ten years.
The value “is estimated at about eight million euros, a reasonably low estimate, which can shoot,” explained Christophe Lucien, the auctioneer responsible for the sale, which his auctioneer has scheduled for October 24.
Signed by Picasso and dated July 11, 1943, the painting was acquired in August 1944 by a prominent French collector, grandfather of the current beneficiaries, who wanted to sell it as part of an inheritance, he explained.
“Unknown to the public and never exposed, except in Picasso’s studio for some friends, has never been varnished or restored; he is simply framed with fine frames and in his original state,” said Agnès Sevestre-Barbé, a Picasso specialist present at the inauguration of the work.
It is “quite exceptional and marks a milestone in the history of art and Picasso,” said Lucien.
Inspired “by naturalistic and cubist styles,” the painting shows Dora Maar taken by sadness, but with an imbued face of sweetness, unlike other portraits in which the Spanish master portrayed her with an expression in which violence and emotion seem exalted, he also analyzed.
Maar wears a flowery hat of very vibrant colors (red, yellow, green) with a darker bust, at a time when Picasso abandoned her for a younger woman, Françoise Gilot.
“The vibrant colors are surprising; we are in 1943, a difficult year, with very dark works during this period,” said Olivier Picasso, grandson of the painter, to France-Presse (AFP) when seeing a photo of the work that had not yet physically discovered.
“A painting, and a portrait of Dora Maar, is rare. Being sold in France is really very rare, just like in the general market,” he added.
Several dora maar portraits were sold, especially in the United States, by large Anglo-Saxon auctioneers, he recalls. In 2006, “Dora Maar with a cat” was sold for $ 95 million in New York after “a woman sitting in a garden” (1938), also acquired in 1999 in New York for $ 49 million.
Authenticated by Picasso’s administration, the portrait revealed on Thursday was known by Picasso experts and enthusiasts only black and white and through the Raisonné catalog of his works (official inventory), which mentions him, according to Douot.
Brassaï photographs, friend of Picasso, taken in the painter’s studio (Rue des Grands-Augustins) also attest to the presence of the painting, Lucien detailed.
Dora Maar, whose real name was Henriette Théodora Markovic (1907-1997), is better known as a photographer and became known in particular by her numerous portraits of Picasso.
Picasso created several portraits of her as a “the woman who cries.” Maar also inspired a series of paintings with the theme “Sitting Women”.
Dora Maar also produced a photographic report on the masterpiece of Picasso, “Guernica”, which was being created in 1937 at his studio at Grands-Augustins, currently housed at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.
