Picasso, Portrait of Marie-Thérèse Art Print

When Picasso made this portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter in 1937, he was also in a relationship with the surrealist photographer Dora Maar. He painted Walter and Maar many times and occasionally fused their images. He sometimes presented Maar as a weeping woman, emotionally wrought and clasping a handkerchief to her face. By contrast, he portrayed Walter as a placidly serene figure. Picasso and Walter had been in a relationship for a decade when he painted this portrait. It is one of several he made of 
her on 4 December 1937. Recognisable by her sweep of blonde hair and blue eyes, Picasso shows her from several angles, in profile yet looking outwards.

Picasso completed his monumental and largely monochromatic painting Guernica several months before making this portrait. Many of his paintings from that year were likewise devoid of colour. The Spanish Civil War, rise of fascism and talk of war elsewhere in Europe brought tension and horror. While dark shadows fall above and behind MarieThérèse, this intimate if pensive portrait is vivid with colour, texture and pattern. 

All prints have the title and artist's name printed at the bottom of each reproduction.

Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm (including white border)

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Portrait of Marie Thérèse 
Paris, 4 December 1937
Oil and pencil on canvas
46 × 38 cm
Musée national Picasso-Paris 
Pablo Picasso Gift in Lieu, 1979.