Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Jeune fille devant un miroir

Pablo Picasso – Young Girl in Front of a Mirror

Authorised print on heavyweight paper (300 g/m²)
Stamped ‘Succession Picasso’ at the bottom in the margin.
Signed on the plate
Wooden frame and mat not included in the sale, thank you.
Carefully packaged and protected, with insurance and delivery requiring a signature.

One of Pablo Picasso’s major works, created in Paris on 14 March 1932. The original is an oil on canvas measuring 162.3 × 130.2 cm, now held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The Museum of Modern Art

The young woman depicted is Marie-Thérèse Walter, Picasso’s muse and partner at that time. She appears in a great many of his works from the early 1930s. Here, Picasso depicts her simultaneously in profile and full face, and then once more through her reflection.
The mirror is key: the real woman and her reflection are deliberately not identical. On the left, the figure appears luminous, sensual and relatively serene; in the mirror, the colours become darker and the face more strange and unsettling.
The MoMA particularly highlights the contrasts between youth and old age, light and shadow, and outward appearance and inner world.

1932 was a pivotal period in Picasso’s career. This painting belongs to a major series produced in 1931–1932, centred largely on Marie-Thérèse Walter. An interesting fact: Alfred H. Barr Jr., the first director of MoMA, reported that Picasso had stated he preferred this painting to the other works in the series.

Picasso was based in the south of France, as were Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. They left their mark on the history of world art.