Portrait of Dora Maar

Pablo Picasso, 1937

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About This Work

Unlike the emotionally charged 'Weeping Woman' series, this portrait presents Dora Maar as a regal, intelligent, and formidable presence, reflecting her multifaceted personality and her significant role in Picasso's life and work. She sits in a chair, her face depicted in Picasso's signature double-profile, looking both forward and to the side, a technique that allows for multiple perspectives and a deeper psychological insight. Her sharp, red-painted fingernails and the complex, angular geometry of the composition reflect her strong personality, intellectual acuity, and the intense, often turbulent, nature of her relationship with Picasso. The painting captures her as a powerful, independent woman, an artist in her own right.

Painted in 1937, the same year as 'Guernica,' this portrait is one of many Picasso created of Dora Maar, his lover and intellectual companion from 1936 to 1943. Maar was a distinguished Surrealist photographer and painter in her own right, and her artistic sensibilities and political engagement deeply resonated with Picasso. She famously documented the creation of 'Guernica' in a series of powerful photographs, providing invaluable insight into Picasso's creative process. This portrait, with its blend of Cubist fragmentation and psychological depth, is considered one of the most dignified and powerful images Picasso ever created of a woman, capturing not just her physical likeness but also her complex inner world and her intellectual partnership with the artist.

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