Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
View source →Bather with Beach Ball
Pablo Picasso, 1932
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
146.2 × 114.6 cm (57.6 × 45.1 in)
Style
Surrealism / Painting
Decade
1930s
About This Work
A monumental female figure reaches upward to catch or release a beach ball, her body rendered in the inflated, biomorphic forms of Picasso's 1932 period. The figure's exaggerated proportions — tiny head, enormous torso and limbs — create a sense of playful absurdity that is characteristic of Picasso's Surrealist work. The bright colors and the beach setting give the work a festive, summery quality.
Painted in the same extraordinary year as Le Rêve and Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, this work belongs to the series of beach figure paintings that Picasso created during his relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter. The beach was a recurring setting in his work, associated with freedom, the body, and the pleasures of the south of France.
Current Location
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
Priceless / Not for sale
* 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
Keywords
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Seated Woman with Wristwatch
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