Dora Maar au chat
| Dora Maar au chat |
|---|
| Pablo Picasso , 1941 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 130 × 97 cm |
| Privately owned
Link to the picture |
Dora Maar au chat (in German Dora Maar with cat ) is a painting by the painter Pablo Picasso from 1941 . The painting shows Dora Maar , Picasso's muse from 1936 to 1943.
description
The approximately 130 × 97 centimeter painting Dora Maar au chat was created in 1941, in the middle of their love affair, that is, at the time when Paris was occupied by the National Socialists . The sitter is sitting on a rustic chair in a white niche, similar to a figure of a saint on a throne. Although she has crossed one leg over the other, she is not seductive or sensual as in other portraits painted five years earlier. "Monkey eyes (but beautiful) and a mouth like a torn flower," Jean Cocteau once said of one of her portraits of Picasso. She is shown en face and in profile at the same time, one ear is on the eye, and her mouth wears a small smile. The hat, praised by the surrealists as an erotic accessory, is adorned with flowers and does not look very fashionable. Dora Maar was known for her elegant hats. Her nail polish always reflected the mood of the day, and her perfectly manicured hands were swarmed by the surrealists, but Picasso gave her pointed, crab-claw-like fingers in the picture. The brilliant colors of the painting are particularly highlighted in the green-purple-red patterns of clothing. The little black cat that gives the painting its name can be found - not immediately recognizable at first glance - on the back of the chair.
auction
On May 4, 2006, it was auctioned for US $ 95 million at Sotheby’s New York . This was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction. The buyer, initially unrecognized, was Bidsina Ivanishvili .
Web links
- Sotheby's: About the painting and its features (Engl.)
- Sotheby's: Full story of the auction on 3rd May 2006, New York (engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lisa Zeitz: Dora Maar: Beautiful open eyes and a mouth like a torn flower. faz.net, March 4, 2006, accessed March 16, 2009 .
- ↑ Pablo Picasso Portrait of Dora Maar brings $ 95,216,000 at Sotheby's. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011 ; accessed on February 9, 2011 .
-
^ The Hunt for the Red Collector. in NY Magazine, 2006 Georgia: Billionaire Politician Plans Guggenheim-Style Museum For Georgia. Retrieved October 23, 2012 .