The work of Pablo Picasso “The Open Window” is an important example of surrealism in
works of the artist – will be put up for sale for the first time on March 1, 2022 at
evening London auction “The Art of Surrealism”, included in the series
auctions “Art of the XX-XXI centuries: from Shanghai to London”. The estimate is
£14–24m
The painting from the series “In the Studio” was painted on November 22, 1929. More
for half a century it was in a private collection. Other works from this series, which
Picasso began around 1926, are in prominent museum
collections, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) and
Center Pompidou in Paris.
The canvas “Open Window” contains many hidden meanings and symbols,
deeply personal to the artist. In the foreground are two
semi-abstract figures. The plaster bust on the right appears disguised
the image of the artist’s beloved – Marie-Therese Walter. figurative
object on the left, which is a kind of symbiosis of legs pierced
arrow, is considered a symbolic image of Picasso himself. On the background
you can see the spiers of the Basilica of Saint Clotilde. British art critic John
Richardson suggests that the painting depicts a Parisian apartment on the Left
bank of the Seine, which served as a place of secret meetings between the artist and his muse. Also on
the foreground shows a composition reminiscent of early cubist
still lifes by Picasso.
The artist included The Open Window in his landmark 1932 retrospective,
which first took place in the Parisian Galerie Georges Petit (June-July), and then
moved to Kunsthaus Zurich (September-October). The painting was also exhibited
at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1968 as part of
the most important exhibition “Dadaists, Surrealists and Their Legacy”.
Picasso’s “Open Window” to be exhibited in New York (4-8
February), in Hong Kong (February 15-17), and then in London (February 23 – March 1).
Photo: press service
