This exceptionally powerful iconic image of a woman was created during the height of Picasso’s masterful Rose Period. In its confrontational full frontal majesty, rare for the period, it relates to a masterpiece of that year, Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe).

The power of the present drawing is derived from its searing depiction of the human condition, here even more unadorned than in the more obviously decorative works. John Richardson quotes Apollinaire’s prose poem on Picasso’s works of this period as follows:

“More than any other poet, sculptor or painter, this Spaniard sears us like a sudden blast…those who are acquainted with him will recall that the manifestations of his ferocity transcend mere experiment.” (quoted in John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, Volume 1, 1881-1906, London, 2009, p. 357.)