Lot Essay
On the evening of January 8, 1927, on a crowded Parisian boulevard, Picasso encountered the woman who would become his muse and lover for the next decade, Marie-Thérèse Walter. He greeted her with the famous line "Mademoiselle, you have an interesting face. I would like to make your portrait", and adding presciently: "I sense we will do great things together". So many works were made in celebration of her charms that it has been said that Picasso's creative output between 1927 and 1937 was a decade-long lyrical poem to Marie-Thérèse. This is one of Picasso's earliest portraits of her.