Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pablo-picasso-1767" aria-label="More by Pablo Picasso" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Pablo Picasso</a>
Nude Woman in a Red Armchair
Purchased 1953
abstraction
actions: postures and motions
adults
chair
female
figure
from recognisable sources
furnishings
individuals: female
named individuals
nudes
objects
people
portraits
sensuality
sex and relationships
sitting
society
Walter, Marie-Thérèse
woman
<p>This work belongs to a sequence of portraits that Picasso made of model Marie-Thérèse Walter at his country property at Boisgeloup. Walter is presented here – as in most of her portraits by Picasso – as a series of sensuous curves. The scrolling arms of the chair exaggerate this effect, echoing the rounded forms of the figure. The face is a double image: the right side can also be seen as the face of a lover in profile, kissing Walter on the lips. The Surrealists admired Picasso, and this image bears a relation to their idea of ‘mad love’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2022</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
16 March 2004 – 21 June 2004
2004-06-21
16 March 2004 – 21 June 2004
2004-06-21
2004-03-16
Musée Picasso (Paris, France)
2004-03-16
Picasso-Ingres
Loan-out
12 June 2005 – 12 September 2005
2005-09-12
12 June 2005 – 12 September 2005
2005-09-12
2005-06-12
Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel, Switzerland)
http://www.beyeler.com
2005-06-12
Picasso and Surrealism
Loan-out
17 November 2006 – 28 March 2008
2008-03-28
17 November 2006 – 28 March 2007
2007-03-28
2006-11-17
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA)
2006-11-17
The Wound of Time: Spanish Art from El Greco to Picasso
Loan-out
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
2007-09-15
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2007-09-15
Convulsive Beauty
Collection based display
15 October 2008 – 29 November 2008
2008-11-29
15 October 2008 – 29 November 2008
2008-11-29
2008-10-15
Private Collection c/o Acquavella Galleries Inc.
2008-10-15
Pablo Picasso from 1931-1933
Loan-out
25 February 2009 – 7 June 2009
2009-06-07
25 February 2009 – 7 June 2009
2009-06-07
2009-02-25
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
2009-02-25
Picasso: Challenging the Past
Loan-out
30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011
2011-01-16
30 September 2010 – 16 January 2011
2011-01-16
2010-09-30
State Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg, Russia)
2010-09-30
Reciprocal loan for Gauguin
Loan-out
1 April 2011 – 15 July 2011
2011-07-15
1 April 2011 – 15 July 2011
2011-07-15
2011-04-01
Gagosian Gallery (New York, USA)
http://www.gagosian.com
2011-04-01
Picasso's Marie-Therese
Loan-out
15 February 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
15 February 2012 – 15 July 2012
2012-07-15
2012-02-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
2012-08-04
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2012-02-15
Picasso and Modern British Art
Exhibition
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
4 August 2012 – 4 November 2012
2012-11-04
2012-08-04
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2012-08-04
Picasso and Modern Art
Loan-out
19 March 2015 – 6 July 2015
2015-07-06
19 March 2015 – 6 July 2015
2015-07-06
2015-03-19
Fondation Louis Vuitton Pour La Création (Paris, France)
2015-03-19
Les Clefs d'une Passion
Loan-out
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
5 November 2016 – 5 February 2017
2017-02-05
2016-11-05
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
18 March 2017 – 16 July 2017
2017-07-16
2017-03-18
Auckland Art Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand)
11 August 2017 – 4 February 2018
2018-02-04
2017-08-11
Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, South Korea)
24 March 2018 – 24 June 2018
2018-06-24
2018-03-24
Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama, Japan)
13 July 2018 – 28 October 2018
2018-10-28
2018-07-13
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
23 November 2024 – 3 March 2025
2025-03-03
2024-11-23
Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, USA)
http://www.worcesterart.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
5 September 2017 – 9 September 2018
2018-09-09
5 September 2017 – 18 February 2018
2018-02-18
2017-09-05
Musée Picasso (Paris, France)
8 March 2018 – 9 September 2018
2018-09-09
2018-03-08
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2017-09-05
Pablo Picasso 1932
Exhibition
10 October 2017 – 9 September 2018
2018-09-09
10 October 2017 – 11 February 2018
2018-02-11
2017-10-10
Musée Picasso (Paris, France)
2017-10-10
Picasso 1932
Loan-out
Nude Woman in a Red Armchair
support: 1299 × 972 mm
frame: 1414 × 1081 × 83 mm
Purchased 1953
<div class="text">
<p>This work belongs to a sequence of portraits that Picasso made of model Marie-Thérèse Walter at his country property at Boisgeloup. Walter is presented here – as in most of her portraits by Picasso – as a series of sensuous curves. The scrolling arms of the chair exaggerate this effect, echoing the rounded forms of the figure. The face is a double image: the right side can also be seen as the face of a lover in profile, kissing Walter on the lips. The Surrealists admired Picasso, and this image bears a relation to their idea of ‘mad love’.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2022-02-14T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Pablo Picasso</b><span> 1881-1973 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-nude-woman-in-a-red-armchair-n06205" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06205</span></a> </span><b>Femme nue dans un Fauteuil rouge</b><span> (Nude Woman in a Red Armchair) 1932 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'Picasso | XXXII' t.l. and 'Boisgeloup 27 juillet XXXII' on stretcher</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 51 1/8 x 38 ¼ (130 x 97)</span>
<br/><span>Purchased from Mrs Stead H. Stead-Ellis through Marlborough Fine Art (Grant-in-Aid) 1953</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Paul Rosenberg, Paris (purchased from the artist 1932); through Rosenberg and Helft, London; Oswald T. Falk, Oxford, 1937; with Zwemmer, London; with Marlborough Fine Art, London; Mrs Stead H. Stead-Ellis, London</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Oeuvres Récentes de Picasso</i><span>, Paul Rosenberg, Paris, March 1936 (7); </span><i>Douze Peintres</i><span>, Paul Rosenberg, Paris, November 1936 (22); </span><i>Recent Works of Picasso</i><span>, Rosenberg and Helft, London, April 1937 (3); </span><i>Work by Picasso, Mirô, Borès</i><span>, Zwemmer Gallery, London, May-June 1948 (4, repr.); </span><i>Picasso</i><span>, Grande Salle 'La Réserve', Knokke-Le Zoute, July-August 1950 (41, repr.); </span><i>European Masters</i><span>, Marlborough Fine Art, London, November 1953-January 1954 (17, repr.); </span><i>Picasso</i><span>, Tate Gallery, July-September 1960 (129, repr.); </span><i>Hommage à Pablo Picasso</i><span>, Grand Palais, Paris, November 1966-February 1967 (159, repr.); </span><i>Picasso</i><span>, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, March-May 1967 (74, repr.)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Robert Melville, 'The Evolution of the Double Head in the Art of Picasso' in </span><i>Horizon</i><span>, VI, 1942, pp.350-1, repr. facing p.348; Christian Zervos, </span><i>Pablo Picasso</i><span> (Paris 1955), Vol.7, No.395, repr. pl.175; Roland Penrose, </span><i>Picasso: his Life and Work</i><span>
(London 1958), p.243</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
</span><i>Cahiers d'Art</i><span>, 1935, p.217 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>This is one of a number of pictures inspired by Marie-Thérèse Walter, a girl Picasso first met early in 1932, when she was only seventeen, and who bore him a daughter Marie (Maïa) in 1935. Picasso managed to conceal this relationship for many years even from his closest friends; his friend and dealer Kahnweiler, for instance, only learnt of her existence after the war. (On their relationship, which lasted until 1946, see Jean-Paul Crespelle, </span><i>Picasso and his Women</i><span>, London 1967, especially pp.137-42; an exhibition of the oils, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/gouache" title="Glossary definition for 'Gouache'"><span>gouaches</span></a>, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a>, etc. which Picasso gave her was held at the Galerie Jan Krugier in Geneva in 1973). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>She appears in a series of pictures painted in 1932 of a woman sleeping, lying down or seated, with very rounded, rhythmical forms, and can almost always be recognised by her lock of blonde hair. This particular picture was painted at Picasso's country property at Boisgeloup and is dated on the stretcher 27 July 1932. A <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> drawing reproduced by Zervos (op.cit., No.394) as a study for this work bears the date 30 July 1932 and therefore seems to have been done afterwards; it is even more curvilinear in design. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.606-7, reproduced p.606</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction actions: postures and motions adults chair female figure from recognisable sources furnishings individuals: female named individuals nudes objects people portraits sensuality sex and relationships sitting society Walter, Marie-Thérèse woman