Aquatint and drypoint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler
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>
Woman at Window
Presented by Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler 1974, accessioned 1994
abstraction
actions: processes and functions
adults
architecture
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
features
figure
from recognisable sources
Gilot, Francoise
individuals: female
looking / watching
named individuals
people
portraits
window
woman
work and occupations
<p>Made in Paris on 17 May 1952, <span>Woman at the Window</span> is a portrait of Picasso’s lover Françoise Gilot in profile. It is the second of two versions of the print. From the first to the second, the image was somewhat refined and the grey and black tones were made deeper and richer. Françoise's forehead was made a little less pronounced while her hair was rendered more geometric and defined. Finally, the shadow behind her changed shape, becoming darker and more solid.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print aquatint drypoint
24 May 2004 – 8 November 2004
2004-11-08
24 May 2004
2004-05-24
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
11 December 2004
2004-12-11
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2004-05-24
Cubism and its Legacy: The Gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler
Collection based display
11 December 2004 – 2 May 2005
2005-05-02
11 December 2004 – 2 May 2005
2005-05-02
2004-12-11
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2004-12-11
Cubism and its Legacy: The Gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler
Collection based display
6 July 2007 – 28 October 2007
2007-10-28
6 July 2007 – 28 October 2007
2007-10-28
2007-07-06
Royal Museum (Edinburgh, U.K.)
2007-07-06
Picasso at Vallauris
Loan-out
4 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
4 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
2022-05-04
Dulwich Picture Gallery (London, UK)
2022-05-04
Woman in the Window
Loan-out
Woman at the Window
image: 902 × 635 mm
frame: 1105 × 726 × 35 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999791" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler</a> 1974, accessioned 1994
<i>Woman at the Window</i>, 1952, is 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/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> made with sugar-lift <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/aquatint" title="Glossary definition for 'Aquatint'"><span>aquatint</span></a> and <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/drypoint" title="Glossary definition for 'Drypoint'"><span>drypoint</span></a> of Picasso’s companion Françoise Gilot (born 1921). Picasso had met the young Françoise, who was a painter herself, in May 1943 and she quickly became a constant presence in his work. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> shows Françoise in profile, standing as she looks out of a window, and offers an interesting contrast to the way in which Picasso had portrayed her in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/lithography" title="Glossary definition for 'Lithography'"><span>lithograph</span></a> <i>Woman in an Armchair No.1 (The Polish Cloak)</i>, 1949 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/picasso-woman-in-an-armchair-no-1-the-polish-cloak-p11361" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11361</span></a>). Where that is a serene, naturalistic portrait of Françoise in delicate washes of lithographic <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Ink'"><span>ink</span></a>, <i>Woman at the Window</i> is partially <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstracted</span></a> and drawn in sharp, angular areas of black, grey and white. This is rendered by intersecting black lines that continue along her neck and delineate her throat. Her eyes are protruding and her nose is off-centre. The scene is dramatically lit from the right, through the window, creating a play of strong light and shade on Françoise’s face. Her hands touch the window and are shown in complete darkness, with slivers of light filtering between the fingers and delineating them.
<br/>
<br/>To make <i>Woman at the Window</i> Picasso used bold areas of block colour contrasted by more decorative and intricate sections. Picasso made two states of this work. The present print was pulled from the second state, after the copper plate had been steelfaced. From the first to the second state the artist somewhat refined the image and made the grey and black <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tones</span></a> both deeper and richer. He reduced the size of Françoise’s forehead, making it a little less pronounced, and changed her hair, making it more ornate, geometric and defined. Finally, he changed the shape of the shadow or curtain behind her and darkened it.
<br/>
<br/>This print was made in Paris on 17 May 1952 and printed by the atelier of Roger Lacourière. It was published by the Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, on Arches wove <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> in an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> of approximately fifteen signed artist’s proofs – of which this is one – plus fifty signed and numbered copies.
<br/>
<p><b>Further reading</b></p>
<p>Brigitte Baer, <i>Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection</i>, exhibition catalogue, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas 1983, reproduced p.144
<br/>Brigitte Baer, <i>Picasso peintre-graveur: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre gravé et des monotypes, 1946-1958</i>, vol. 4, Bern 1988, pp.160-1, reproduced p.161
<br/>Giorgia Bottinelli, ‘Pablo Picasso’, in Jennifer Mundy (ed.), <i>Cubism and its Legacy: The Gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, London 2004, pp.88-90, reproduced p.96
<br/>
<br/>Giorgia Bottinelli
<br/>June 2004</p>

Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p><span>Made in Paris on 17 May 1952, </span><i>Woman at the Window</i><span> is 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/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> of Picasso’s lover Françoise Gilot in profile. It is the second of two versions of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a>. From the first to the second, the image was somewhat refined and the grey and black <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tones</span></a> were made deeper and richer. Françoise's forehead was made a little less pronounced while her hair was rendered more geometric and defined. Finally, the shadow behind her changed shape, becoming darker and more solid.</span></p>

Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstraction actions: processes and functions adults architecture artist, painter arts and entertainment features figure from recognisable sources Gilot, Francoise individuals: female looking / watching named individuals people portraits window woman work and occupations