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Lot Essay
Françoise Gilot has confirmed the authenticity of this work. It is recorded in her archives under the number 946.
Françoise Gilot knew that she wanted to be an artist from the age of five. Born to a Parisian businessman and a watercolorist, Gilot studied law while secretly continuing her art. At the young age of 21, Gilot was already an accomplished artist in her own right during World War II. After meeting Gilot in a café in the spring of 1943, Pablo Picasso, already a world-famous artist, fell madly in love with her. This meeting marked the beginning of a decade-long romance, during which she was surrounded by the titans of Modernism including Marc Chagall, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse. Their long relationship bore two children - Claude and Paloma. Currently based in New York, Gilot was recently appointed an Officer of the Légion d'Honneur, one of France's highest distinctions.
Chromatically luminous and stylistically playful, the present work is an outstanding example of the artist’s mature work. Writing on still lifes, Gilot may have been describing the present painting when she stated, “During the years from 1960 to 1988 my still lifes are often self-enclosed compositions devised with a solid structure, saturated color schemes […]” (in F. Gilot, Françoise Gilot, A Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 106).
According to Gilot, “Color is there to accelerate cardiac rhythm, to elicit a tear, to set teeth on edge, and to beguile. It is the result of a condensed sensation, as Henri Matisse used to say, and therefore it is intuitive and passionate. It is an inborn knowledge that can become refined with time, but which cannot be taught nor learned” (see www.francoisegilot.com).
Françoise Gilot knew that she wanted to be an artist from the age of five. Born to a Parisian businessman and a watercolorist, Gilot studied law while secretly continuing her art. At the young age of 21, Gilot was already an accomplished artist in her own right during World War II. After meeting Gilot in a café in the spring of 1943, Pablo Picasso, already a world-famous artist, fell madly in love with her. This meeting marked the beginning of a decade-long romance, during which she was surrounded by the titans of Modernism including Marc Chagall, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse. Their long relationship bore two children - Claude and Paloma. Currently based in New York, Gilot was recently appointed an Officer of the Légion d'Honneur, one of France's highest distinctions.
Chromatically luminous and stylistically playful, the present work is an outstanding example of the artist’s mature work. Writing on still lifes, Gilot may have been describing the present painting when she stated, “During the years from 1960 to 1988 my still lifes are often self-enclosed compositions devised with a solid structure, saturated color schemes […]” (in F. Gilot, Françoise Gilot, A Monograph 1940-2000, Lausanne, 2000, p. 106).
According to Gilot, “Color is there to accelerate cardiac rhythm, to elicit a tear, to set teeth on edge, and to beguile. It is the result of a condensed sensation, as Henri Matisse used to say, and therefore it is intuitive and passionate. It is an inborn knowledge that can become refined with time, but which cannot be taught nor learned” (see www.francoisegilot.com).