Image: Musée National Picasso-Paris / Public Domain
View source →Portrait of Olga in an Armchair
Pablo Picasso, 1918
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
130 × 88.8 cm (51.2 × 35 in)
Style
Neoclassicism
Decade
1910s
About This Work
Portrait of Olga in an Armchair is one of the most accomplished portraits of Picasso's Neoclassical period, depicting his future wife Olga Khokhlova seated in a floral armchair. The upper portion of the painting — the figure and the chair — is rendered with meticulous realism; the lower portion remains as a rough sketch. This deliberate incompleteness gives the painting a quality of immediacy and intimacy.
Painted in 1918, the year of Picasso's marriage to Olga Khokhlova, the portrait reflects the influence of Ingres that Picasso was absorbing at this time. Olga was a dancer with the Ballets Russes, and Picasso had met her while designing costumes for the company. The painting is one of the most important works in the Musée Picasso collection.
Current Location
Musée National Picasso-Paris, Paris, France
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
$80–120 million (est.)
* 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
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