The Lovers

Pablo Picasso, 1923

Technical Details

About This Work

Painted in 1923, Pablo Picasso’s 'The Lovers' presents a monumental vertical composition showing a man and woman standing side-by-side from the hips up against an interior backdrop of a window and curtain. Rendered in flat areas of vivid color with bold black outlines, the figures exhibit paper-white skin, brown hair, straight noses, and calm, statuesque expressions. The woman tilts her head toward the man, wearing a sea-green head-drape and a buttercup-yellow skirt, while her left hand clasps his. The man turns his head to gaze at her, dressed in a vibrant coral-red garment. They are positioned before a mauve-purple curtain on the right and baby-blue window panes set within an ash-gray frame on the left. Signed in brown at the lower right with 'Picasso 23', the work reflects Picasso's neoclassical return to order following World War I, combining monumental sculptural volume with simplified linear grace and harmonious chromatic planes.

Executed in 1923, 'The Lovers' dates to a prolific period when Pablo Picasso embraced a neoclassical aesthetic, moving away from radical Cubist fragmentation toward monumental figuration and classical poise. Acquired by the artist's primary dealer Paul Rosenberg and subsequently owned by notable collectors including Miss Mary Hoyt Wiborg and Chester Dale, the painting has enjoyed an extensive exhibition history across major international institutions. It was featured in pivotal early exhibitions such as the Reinhardt Galleries loan exhibition in New York (1927), the Museum of Modern Art's landmark 'Painting in Paris' exhibition (1930), and Galerie Georges Petit in Paris (1932). Documented in Christian Zervos’s definitive catalogue raisonné, the painting exemplifies the interwar European cultural pivot toward traditional forms and Mediterranean antiquity, synthesized through Picasso's inimitable modern sensibility before entering the Chester Dale Collection and ultimately finding its permanent home at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Current Location

Valuation & Provenance

Keywords