The magic of Picasso: the artist’s radiant 1934 portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter

1934 was a dark moment in time for Picasso. Amidst rising global conflict — his homeland of Spain on the brink of civil war, fascism spreading across Europe and ongoing economic fallout from the Great Depression — he was also facing personal upheaval. His wife, Olga Khokhlova, refused a divorce, and the two remained in an increasingly acrimonious union.

Much of Picasso’s art from this year reflects an anguished state of mind. He was working less, and the majority of his output was grim and tortured. ‘He paints around 45 oils in 1934 and they’re a predominantly darker vision and view on life,’ says Max Carter, Vice Chairman of 20th and 21st Century art at Christie’s. ‘They’re thorny psychological images, almost cries for help.’

Yet amidst this period of unhappiness, on one day in July of 1934, Picasso produced three luminous portraits of his infamous muse Marie-Thérèse Walter. Today, one portrait is at the Hirshhorn and another at the Portland Museum of Art. The third, which the artist kept in his personal collection, was later purchased by film legend Ivan Reitman.

‘The day my father said, “I'm bringing home a Picasso,” that was a very strange day... it just didn't feel real,’ says Reitman’s son Jason. ‘What's extraordinary about standing in front of a painting is that human connection and understanding. When you look at the brush strokes, you are feeling the connection to the artist's hand. And to stand in front of a Picasso and realize that you are connected to the history of art by just standing there.’ On 9 November, Christie’s is pleased to offer the work, Femme endormie, as part of the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York.

The hidden cipher

A chance encounter with Marie-Thérèse on the streets of Paris in 1927 would lead to an impassioned period of creativity for the artist as the two began a years-long, clandestine affair. ‘This is the person who's already been through the Blue and Rose periods. He pioneered Cubism with Braque, he painted some of the most beautiful and assured paintings and drawings,’ says Carter. ‘He was, arguably, the most famous and accomplished living artist in the late 1920s when he met Marie-Thérèse. In hindsight, this time with her is seen as one of the crowning periods of his career.’

At first, Marie-Thérèse appeared in Picasso’s work only through veiled allusions. As the affair continued, however, she became ubiquitous. Easily identifiable by her Grecian profile, close-cropped blonde hair and sinuous figure, she was an unending source of inspiration. Picasso filled his canvases with her figure, sculpted her face in plaster and captured his feelings for her in countless sketches and prints.

Despite her prevalence in his oeuvre, Marie-Thérèse was kept a secret from all but Picasso’s closest friends. It was not until a 1932 retrospective at the Galeries Georges Petit that the sensual portraits of his blonde muse were revealed. ‘A number of these portraits depict Marie-Thérèse in a dreamlike state,’ says Carter. ‘That’s because she was this hidden cipher. She’s hidden from the world and these dreamlike portraits portray this inner fantasy life that Picasso shares only with her.’

In the wake of the retrospective, Olga became enraged at her husband’s infidelity. By 1934, she had moved from the family home at La Rue Boétie into a nearby hotel. The mounting tensions between the couple spilled over into Picasso’s creative endeavours, spawning a period of macabre contemplation.

Their separate world

Amidst the ongoing turmoil, Marie-Thérèse would remain a refuge for Picasso, and this peaceful intimacy between the couple is at the heart of Femme endormie. Painted at the artist’s country home of Boisgeloup, the trio of portraits executed in July of 1934 capture the separate, untroubled world the two inhabited. Between 1930 and 1935, Boisgeloup was where Picasso was most active. The three-story château, situated on 30 acres in Normandy, was a rural retreat for the artist. It was also where he brought Marie-Thérèse for uninterrupted time together.

In the portrait, Picasso draws on the bright summer light, rendering Marie-Thérèse in vibrant, sweeping colours. She is depicted at rest, her arms overlapping on top of a pillow. Her face, tilted back, is tranquil and her body slack with sleep. With the curves of her figure occupying most of the canvas, Picasso offers a deeply personal and intimate view of his lover.

‘He paints these three glowing portraits, each of which shows her in a slightly different manner,’ says Carter. ‘He’s working at speed and working on the three canvases concurrently, so he’s using some of the same colours, but he’s really heightened them in the Reitman portrait. He’s softened and rounded the forms in the sinuous lines of her hair and her figure.’

An ‘amazing, joyous oasis’

Purchased by Reitman in 1992, this painting speaks to the broader ethos underpinning the famous director’s art collection. Throughout his life and his career, Reitman drew on humour and positivity to probe deeper questions of humanity. As someone dedicated to optimism and the magic of possibility, the appeal of this portrait is evident, heightened only by the backstory of its unexpected creation.

‘The Picasso was purchased at the same time that my father's film, Dave, came out,’ says Reitman’s daughter Catherine. ‘While my father has a lot of popular films, Dave to me is his best work...it's a wonderful, three-dimensional piece of humanity. And I think my father was in a really healthy head space when he bought this Picasso. He knew what he was doing; he was at the wheel of his car."

Executed on this one anomalous day in July, just before Picasso would take an extended hiatus from painting in 1935, this portrait represents a brief moment of unadulterated joy. ‘It’s this amazing, joyous oasis,’ says Carter. ‘This reminder of the happiness that is experienced in a private, dreamlike place set apart from the darkness of the world.’