Women of Algiers, Version "I"
January 25, 1955
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
On View

This remarkable re-creation of the Women of Algiers, an iconic harem scene by the French Romanticist Eugène Delacroix, is one of fifteen paintings and over a hundred works on paper of this subject that Picasso made in a concentrated burst of activity in late 1954 and early 1955. Although the Spanish artist had long admired Delacroix’s masterpiece, the impetus to paint an odalisque was likely inspired by the death of Matisse that November. Speaking of his longtime friend and artistic rival, Picasso explained, “When Matisse died he left me his odalisques as a legacy, and this is my idea of the Orient, though I have never been there.”

Details

  • Artist Name: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
  • Title: Women of Algiers, Version "I"
  • Date: January 25, 1955
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 38-1/8 x 51-1/8 in. (96.8 x 129.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
  • Accession Number: M.1986.3.P
  • Copyright: © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Object Information

[Paul Rosenberg, Paris].
Frua dei Angeli, Italy.
[Galerie Beyeler, Basel, sold 1973 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation, transferred 1986 to;
Norton Simon Art Foundation.

Matisse/Odalisque

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2019-02-22 to 2019-06-17
  • Steadman, David, The Connoisseur, p. 230
  • Steinberg, Leo, Other Criteria: Confrontations with Twentieth-century Art, opp. p. 234
  • Croutier, Alev Lytle, Harem: The World Behind the Veil, p. 204
  • Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 196
  • Steadman, David W., The Connoisseur, p. 230
  • Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 938 p. 353
  • Zervos, Christian, Pablo Picasso: Oeuvres de 1953 à 1955,no. 353, pl. 130
  • Montua, Gabriel (ed.), Picasso & Femmes d'Alger,2020, I p. 107 ; p. [96] (ill.), p. 98 (ill.)
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Additional Artwork by Artist

Suite Vollard, 1939, Paris Pablo Picasso 1930-37
Suite Vollard, 1939, Paris: At the Bath Pablo Picasso October 17, 1930
Suite Vollard, 1939, Paris: Man Unveiling a Woman Pablo Picasso June 20, 1931

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