Image: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
View source →Head of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse)
Pablo Picasso, 1932
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
55 × 46 cm (21.7 × 18.1 in)
Style
Surrealism / Painting
Decade
1930s
About This Work
Head of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse) condenses a portrait into interlocking curved forms, allowing profile and frontal cues to coexist within a single face. The softened transitions between forehead, eyes, hair, and cheek create the flowing, biomorphic effect associated with Picasso's 1932 portraits of Marie-Thérèse Walter. Warm yellows and flesh tones lend the composition a luminous unity, while the rearranged features make the viewer negotiate between recognition and abstraction.
Dated 1932, this oil-on-canvas portrait is cataloged within Picasso's Surrealist-period work and his sustained engagement with Marie-Thérèse Walter as a subject. Its 55 × 46 cm format focuses attention on the head alone, making color and facial construction carry the composition. The work entered the public market through Sotheby's London in 2014 and is cataloged here as privately held; therefore, its collection route and image handling remain transparent rather than implying a public-museum display or reproduction license.
Current Location
Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
$30–50 million (est.)
* Estimates are based on comparable auction results and market analysis. Not a formal appraisal.
Last Known Sale
$28.6 million
2014
Sotheby's London
Keywords
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