Dora Maar in a Wicker Chair

Pablo Picasso

1938 · Ink, charcoal, and pastel on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

The Surrealist photographer Dora Maar (1907–1997) was the artist's lover from 1936 to 1943. In contrast to his languid pictures of Marie-Thérèse Walter (see MMA 1997.149.4), Picasso's portraits of Maar are sharp and frenetic. Here, the thirty-one-year-old Maar appears as a giddy spider queen, sitting atop a throne with crossed arms and legs at the center of a weblike world. Her hands are curiously splayed, her breasts are conical shells, and her ears evoke two little bells.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Date

1938

Medium

Ink, charcoal, and pastel on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998