Pablo Picasso Portrait de Françoise aux Cheveux flous, 1947 illustrates the artist’s thoughtful use of line to create a portrait of Françoise Gilot that is at once delicate and complex. This two-dimensional image of a female head may not bear the intricate detail associated with complex imagery, but the process by which Picasso achieved such an image is itself multilayered and dynamic. Using Françoise’s portrait as a template for a myriad of experiments, both in painting and printing, employing the most diverse facets and styles.

Utilizing his characteristic visual language, Picasso creates a delicate portrait of his then muse, who in his art also appears from the front or in profile. Her facial features are depicted, with her nose long and narrow, the accentuated arc of the right eyebrow, her almond shaped eyes, the beautiful curved lips, the long neck, the beauty spot on her chin, her full, voluminous hair that cascades down her back, form the basic framework of all portraits of Françoise.

A painter herself, Françoise Gilot met Picasso during her exhibition in 1943, where the then 22 year-old Françoise and the painter, who was 40 years her senior, become a couple. Living with him in both Paris and the South of France, Gilot and Picasso marry, their union proceeding the birth of their two children, Claude and Paloma. She is regarded as the most independent and most intelligent of Picasso’s lovers. Amongst other things, Françoise was the first woman who was not abandoned by Picasso, but who ended the relationship herself. Many years after the separation, she published two books on Picasso: "My life with Picasso" (1964) and "Matisse and Picasso. A friendship in art" (1990). Today, at the age of 101, Françoise Gilot lives and works in New York.

Created in 1947, this aquatint on Arches wove paper is hand-signed by Pablo Picasso (Malaga, 1881 – Mougins, 1973) in pencil in the lower right margin. This work is also mirror-dated in the plate in the lower right margin: 24 JUIN 47. Numbered from the edition of 50 in pencil in the lower left margin.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Pablo Picasso Portrait de Françoise aux Cheveux flous, 1947 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Baer, Bridgette. Picasso Peintre-Graveur, Tome IV – Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre grave et des monotypes, Berne: Editions Kornfeld, 1989. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 791.
2. Bloch, Georges. Picasso Catalogue de l'ouvre gravé et lithographié, Volume I. Kornfeld et Cie: Switzerland, 1968. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 457.
3. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Pablo Picasso Portrait de Françoise aux Cheveux flous, 1947 is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.