(Bearded Man Crowned with Vine Leaves)

March 1962, Mougins

Medium: Original linocut printed in four colours (maroon on beige, brown, light brown and black), printed from a single block on Arches watermarked paper; signed in pencil by the artist

Edition: 4/50 (with approximately 20 artist’s proofs)

Publisher: Galerie Louis Leiris, Paris, 1961

Printer: Arnéra, Vallauris, France

Size: Sheet 61.6 × 43.8 cm (24¼ × 17¼ in); framed 79 × 89 cm

References: Bloch 1308; Baer 1307; Wofsy L:128; Orozco 399

Provenance: Christie’s, New York, 27 April 2016, lot 68; Park West Gallery, Southfield, Michigan (by 2018); acquired by the present owner in 2018 (COA dated 17 January 2018)

Condition: Very good, with strong colour and a clear, confident impression

This commanding portrait presents a bearded male figure crowned with vine leaves, rendered in bold, simplified forms. The composition is frontal and monumental, with the head filling the picture plane. Picasso employs a restrained yet powerful palette, allowing carved lines and flat colour fields to work together with striking clarity. The surface retains a strong sense of the artist’s hand, characteristic of his late linocut technique, and conveys immediacy and authority.

The vine-leaf crown evokes classical and Dionysian imagery, linking the figure to themes of vitality, intoxication, creativity, and renewal. The bearded visage suggests maturity, experience, and authority, yet the stylisation prevents the portrait from becoming literal. Instead, Picasso offers a symbolic image that hovers between mythological archetype and self-reflection. As in much of his late work, identity here is fluid — part ancient god, part timeless human presence, part artist contemplating legacy.

This work belongs to Picasso’s radical reinvention of the linocut medium during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Rather than treating linocut as a purely graphic process, Picasso transformed it into a painterly medium capable of expressive depth and tonal richness. Across his entire career, Picasso created only around 150 linocuts, making them a comparatively rare and tightly defined body of work within his vast oeuvre. These prints are now recognised as some of the most innovative achievements in 20th-century printmaking and central to his late graphic production.

By 1962, Picasso was in his eighties and working with extraordinary freedom and confidence from his home in Mougins. The previous year he had married Jacqueline Roque, who would remain his companion and principal muse until his death in 1973. This period is widely regarded as one of remarkable creative intensity, marked by a renewed engagement with themes of masculinity, mythology, identity, and artistic legacy.

Far from slowing down, Picasso approached his later years with boldness and clarity, revisiting classical imagery through a highly personal lens. His work from this time is characterised by confidence, humour, and an unfiltered directness — qualities that resonate strongly in his linocuts of 1961–62.

Homme barbu couronné de feuilles de vigne was conceived as the companion piece to Jeune Homme couronné de feuillage, which depicts a youthful male figure crowned with leaves. Together, the two works form a compelling dialogue between youth and maturity, innocence and experience. While the younger figure is treated in a more Cubist idiom, this bearded portrait adopts a more linear and monumental approach, reinforcing the contrast between the two states of being.

Picasso employed his innovative reduction linocut technique, carving successive colours from a single block. This process required absolute precision, as each stage permanently altered the block, leaving no margin for correction. The result is a work of remarkable cohesion and immediacy, where colour and line are inseparable. Printed by Arnéra in Vallauris, the impressions retain exceptional clarity and depth.

The work benefits from strong, traceable provenance, having passed through Christie’s New York and an established American gallery before entering its current collection. The presence of a certificate of authenticity further reinforces its credibility and desirability within the international market.

Picasso remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, reshaping painting, sculpture, and printmaking across multiple movements. His late graphic works demonstrate an artist still challenging convention and redefining medium well into old age, affirming his enduring relevance and creative vitality.

This linocut appeals to collectors seeking a powerful example of Picasso’s late-period confidence and innovation. Its strong mythological symbolism, rarity within the linocut corpus, and relationship to a paired work make it particularly compelling as a statement piece within a modern or modern-master collection.

Picasso’s linocuts from the early 1960s are increasingly recognised as major works rather than secondary editions. With a small edition size, institutional recognition, and consistent global demand, Homme barbu couronné de feuilles de vignerepresents a museum-quality acquisition with enduring cultural and market significance.