Image: Image reproduction rights managed by Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; institutional source link provided
View source →Pablo Picasso, September 22, 1920
Medium
Graphite on tan wove paper, prepared with a white ground
Dimensions
21.5 × 27 cm (8 1/2 × 10 11/16 in.)
Style
Neoclassicism
Decade
1920s
The official Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois record identifies Nessus and Deianira as a Pablo Picasso graphite, dated September 22, 1920, in Graphite on tan wove paper, prepared with a white ground. Picasso first used a specific subject from Classical mythology during his stay in the French town of Juanles- Pins between September 11 and September 22, 1920, when he made a series of six drawings based on the Greek myth of Nessus and Deianira. Recounted in the ninth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the story centers on the abduction of Hercules' s bride, Deianira, by the centaur Nessus, who had promised to ferry her across a river. In this drawing, we see the climax of the story, when the struggling woman is about to be raped by her abductor.
Nessus and Deianira is grouped under Neoclassical Period for gallery navigation using the date published by Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. This period label provides high-level art-historical orientation and does not supersede the primary collection record. The institutional credit line is: Clarence Buckingham Collection.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →2026 Estimated Value
Public collection / market value not asserted
* 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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