Nude in an Armchair
Pablo Picasso, 1929
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
195 × 130 cm (76.8 × 51.2 in)
Style
Surrealism / Painting
Decade
1920s
About This Work
A female figure is depicted in an armchair, her body transformed into a monstrous assemblage of bone-like forms — angular, hard, and threatening. The work belongs to the 'bone period' of the late 1920s, when Picasso's figures became skeletal, predatory constructions that seem to devour the space around them. The armchair setting, normally associated with domestic comfort, becomes a stage for a disturbing vision of the female body.
The Nude in an Armchair belongs to the series of large-scale figure paintings that Picasso created in 1929, reflecting the deterioration of his marriage to Olga. The monstrous, threatening female figures of this period are widely interpreted as expressions of marital hostility and sexual anxiety.
Current Location
Musée National Picasso-Paris, Paris, France
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
$30–55 million (est.)
* Estimates are based on comparable auction results and market analysis. Not a formal appraisal.
Last Known Sale
No public auction record — held in permanent museum collection
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