Head of a Woman (Jacqueline)

Pablo Picasso, 1961-1962

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About This Work

Head of a Woman (Jacqueline)' is a captivating oil painting created by Pablo Picasso between 1961 and 1962, measuring 100.01 by 79.69 centimeters, housed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The vertical composition portrays Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s muse and second wife, rendered through the artist’s mature, expressive late-career idiom. The head-and-shoulders portrait features a dual-perspective face set against a vibrant teal background, where facial features are dynamically reassembled using bold contours and contrasting gray and charcoal tones. Jacqueline’s hand is gracefully raised toward her chin, imbuing the stylized representation with a quiet, contemplative intimacy. The stark, simplified planes and monumental framing demonstrate Picasso's enduring mastery of Cubist deconstruction fused with intense psychological presence. Through deliberate distortions of perspective and emotive color contrasts, the portrait transforms a deeply personal likeness into an iconic, timeless meditation on femininity, devotion, and the profound visual harmony of Picasso's late period.

Created between 1961 and 1962, 'Head of a Woman (Jacqueline)' stems from the final, highly productive decades of Pablo Picasso's career spent in the south of France at Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins. During this period, Jacqueline Roque became Picasso's ultimate muse, principal model, and second wife, dominating his creative output more than any other individual in his life. Picasso depicted her likeness thousands of times across paintings, ceramics, and prints, often utilizing her distinctive Mediterranean features—dark hair, almond eyes, and regal profile—as a vehicle for exploring art-historical precedents from Rembrandt to Delacroix. This specific canvas reflects the stylistic synthesis of Picasso's late years, where rapid, assured brushwork and monumental scale met intense emotional devotion. Provenance records trace the painting from the artist's studio through Galerie Rosengart in Lucerne, Dr. Willy Staehelin, and subsequently into the distinguished collection of Janice and Henri Lazarof, who promised and gifted it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2005. It stands as a major testament to Picasso's late creative zenith.

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