Title: Peintre dessinant et modèle nu au chapeau

(Painter Sketching and His Nude Model Wearing a Hat)

Date: February 1965, Mougins

Medium: Original linocut, printed in two colours (black on white), from a single block on Arches watermarked paper; signed by the artist in pencil

Edition: 132/160

(There were also approximately 35 artist’s proofs, some signed, and five impressions printed on Arches wove paper, washed in black India ink and rinsed to reverse the tonal relationship)

Printer & Publisher: Arnéra, Vallauris, France

Size: 620 × 750 mm (paper size)

References:

– Bloch 1194

– Baer 1357.Ba

– Wofsy, The Complete Linocuts, L-183

– Curtiss, Picasso: Passion and Creation – The Last Thirty Years, Boca Raton Museum of Art, 2001

– Online Picasso Project (65:019)

Peintre dessinant et modèle nu au chapeau is one of Pablo Picasso’s most intimate and psychologically charged late linocuts, created in 1965 when the artist was in his early eighties and working prolifically from his home in Mougins. The composition presents a private studio moment: a painter absorbed in drawing, and a nude model wearing a hat, posed nearby. Though physically close, the two figures exist in parallel states of concentration — united by the act of creation, yet inwardly self-contained.

Carved from a single linoleum block and printed in black and white, the image achieves remarkable expressive clarity through economy of means. The white lines cut from the black field produce a luminous, almost chalk-like softness, lending the scene a quiet sensuality and emotional restraint.

The subject of the painter and model recurs obsessively throughout Picasso’s career, becoming especially prominent in his late years. Far from being a simple studio genre, these scenes function as deeply autobiographical meditations on creativity, desire, ageing, and the artist’s enduring engagement with the female form.

In this work, the model’s hat introduces a note of theatricality — a recurring motif in Picasso’s late imagery — suggesting role-play, disguise, and the tension between reality and representation. The figures do not overtly engage, yet a subtle psychological bond is conveyed through posture and expression. Picasso invites the viewer into a moment of suspended intimacy, where looking, drawing, and being seen become intertwined.

By the mid-1960s, Picasso had radically reinvented the linocut medium, producing some of the most experimental and expressive prints of his career. Although he created only around 150 linocuts in total, works from this period are now recognised as central to his late graphic oeuvre.

This print reflects Picasso’s continued engagement with Cubist principles — fragmented perspectives, flattened space, and expressive distortion — while simultaneously embracing a freer, more spontaneous graphic language. The bold carving and simplified forms exemplify his ability to distil complex emotional narratives into deceptively direct imagery.

At this time, Picasso was living with Jacqueline Roque, his wife and constant companion, whose presence profoundly shaped the emotional tenor of his late work. Many of the artist-and-model scenes from this period are understood as symbolic dialogues between creator and muse, memory and desire.

Picasso’s late period is now widely regarded as one of extraordinary vitality rather than decline. Works such as Peintre dessinant et modèle nu au chapeau challenge conventional narratives of ageing by presenting creativity as urgent, sensual, and psychologically rich well into the artist’s final decades.

Held in major institutional collections and extensively referenced in scholarly literature, Picasso’s linocuts from the 1960s occupy a crucial position in 20th-century printmaking, influencing generations of artists through their technical audacity and emotional candour.

Linocuts from Picasso’s Mougins period are increasingly sought after for their expressive freedom, autobiographical depth, and relative rarity. With a limited edition of 160, strong catalogue documentation, and publication by Arnéra in Vallauris, Peintre dessinant et modèle nu au chapeau represents a highly desirable example from this late body of work.

Collectors value this piece for its intimate subject matter, confident execution, and its place within Picasso’s lifelong exploration of the artist’s role and the act of looking. It stands as a museum-quality acquisition — intellectually compelling, emotionally resonant, and firmly embedded within the canon of modern art.