Image: Wikimedia Commons — see source licensing
View source →Two Nudes
Pablo Picasso, 1906
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
151.3 × 93 cm (59.6 × 36.6 in)
Style
Proto-Cubism
Decade
1900s
About This Work
Two Nudes presents two massive female figures facing one another before a large curtain. Their terra-cotta tonalities and heavy, simplified bodies give the 151.3 × 93 cm canvas an unusually sculptural weight. MoMA identifies the figures as nearly mirror images, yet distinguishes the left-hand figure through its chiseled nose, dark hollow eyes, and outward gaze. The opened curtain turns the scene into an encounter with the viewer, while the compressed space concentrates attention on the relationship between the two bodies.
MoMA dates Two Nudes to late 1906 in Paris and relates its terra-cotta palette and heavy figural treatment to Picasso’s interest in ancient Iberian sculpture. The museum also notes a visual relationship between the left figure and a woman in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a work made the following year. This connection is best understood as a continuing formal concern with simplified faces, strong outlines, and the viewer’s encounter with the nude, rather than as a claim that the later painting was predetermined by a single source.
Current Location
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
$60–100 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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Nude with Joined Hands
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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
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Seated Nude
1908 · same style · same era
Houses on the Hill, Horta de Ebro
1909 · same style · same era
The Reservoir, Horta de Sant Joan
1909 · same style · same era
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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Reproduction
High-quality print of this revolutionary proto-Cubist masterpiece
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