Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Femme nue assise et enfant musicien, 1966 Black crayon and graphite on Lana paper 14-1/2 x 20-7/8 inches (36.8 x 53.0 cm) (sheet) Signed in pencil upper right corner: Picasso Dated and inscribed lower left: 2.7.66 / I PROVENANCE: Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland; Private collection, Dallas, acquired from the above. EXHIBITED: Vienna Rathaus, "Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): Bilder, Zeichnungen, Plastiken," November 1981 - January 1982, listed and illustrated in catalogue under no. 84. LITERATURE: C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, oeuvres de 1965 a 1967, Vol. 25, Paris, 1972, no. 219, illustrated p. 110. Executed at Mougins in 1966, Femme nue assise et enfant musicien belongs to the remarkable final chapter of Pablo Picasso's career. At eighty-four, Picasso returned with renewed intensity to subjects that had fascinated him throughout his life—the female nude, musicians and performers, the artist and model, and the great traditions of European painting. Rather than becoming more restrained with age, his work grew increasingly free, direct, and expressive. The seated nude is one of the most enduring subjects in Picasso's oeuvre. Here, working simply in black crayon and graphite, he reduces the body to bold, confident lines. The figure is distorted but never loses its physical presence; a few sweeping marks are enough to suggest weight, gesture, and personality. This economy of line reflects the extraordinary confidence of an artist who had spent more than six decades continually reinventing the human figure. The child musician introduces another theme deeply rooted in Picasso's past. Musicians and performers had appeared in his work since the harlequins and Saltimbanques of his early career. During the 1960s they returned with new force, joining painters, models, nudes, cavaliers, and eventually the celebrated musketeers of his final years. Picasso used these characters to move freely between his own memories and the history of art, creating an imaginary world in which artist, performer, observer, and model continually exchange roles. The date of this drawing is particularly significant. Picasso had undergone surgery in 1965 and spent much of the following year recovering, yet his return to the studio initiated an astonishing final period of creativity. The female nude and musician became recurring protagonists in these late works, often charged with humor, desire, and an awareness of Picasso's own place within the history of painting. Femme nue assise et enfant musicien captures this moment of renewed invention with remarkable immediacy. There is no elaborate setting and very little modeling; line alone carries the composition. Yet within these seemingly spontaneous marks are themes that accompanied Picasso throughout his career. The drawing looks backward—to the performers of his youth and his lifelong fascination with the nude—but at the same time anticipates the uninhibited figures of his final years. It is precisely this combination of memory and freedom that makes Picasso's late work so compelling: even in his eighties, familiar subjects remained opportunities to see and create something new. HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

Vienna Rathaus, "Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): Bilder, Zeichnungen, Plastiken," November 1981 - January 1982, listed and illustrated in catalogue under no. 84 as "Sitzender Akt mit Musizierendem Kind."

Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland; Private collection, Dallas, acquired from the above.

Minor creasing along extreme edges, including left perforated edge. Handling dents in corners. Minor tear lower right corner of sheet. Stray writing in pencil and remnants of skinned label and previous hinging verso. Hinged along upper edge to back board. Framed and floated under acrylic
Framed Dimensions 33 X 37 Inches