Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973)
La Muse (The Muse)
1935
Oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
Returning to a peaceful climate, Picasso painted two Inspiration figures, one drawing its own reflection in the mirror, the other sleeping.
The year 1935 was a troubled period for the artist, who separated from his wife Olga a few months before his new companion, Marie-Thérèse Walter, gave birth to their daughter Maya. Having devoted himself to poetry, Picasso returned to painting with variations on the theme of the painter and his model. the young woman in the foreground seems less in keeping with the traditional representation of muses than in a second version (Museum of Modern Art, New York), where she wears a dress and a crown of flowers. (Centre Pompidou)