Image: Image reproduction rights managed by Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; institutional source link provided
View source →Pablo Picasso, 1928
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory Japanese paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 44.3 × 33 cm (17 1/2 × 13 in.)
Style
Surrealist-influenced modernism
Decade
1920s
The official Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois record identifies Face of Marie-Thérèse as a Pablo Picasso lithograph, dated 1928, in Lithograph in black on ivory Japanese paper. Among the most iconic subjects in Picasso’s art at this time was Marie-Thérèse Walter (1909–1977). Their affair began in 1927 while Picasso was still with his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, and continued for decades; Picasso frequently focused on the sensual and athletic aspects of her body in his imagery. He conveyed Walter’s classical features in this lithograph, initially created for the frontispiece of a book and then later issued on its own. Walter described their first encounter: “He took me to his studio. He looked at me, he seduced me. He kept looking at my face. When I left he said, ‘Come back tomorrow.’ And then afterwards it was always ‘tomorrow.’”
Face of Marie-Thérèse is grouped under Surrealist 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: Gift of Walter S. Brewster.
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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