La Danse

La Danse, now in the collection of the Tate Modern in London, has been described by John Richardson as an "allegorical masterpiece" (J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932, London, 2007, pp. 274-283). The picture was the result of Picasso’s emotional state following the death of one of his earliest friends, Ramon Pichot, whose profile can be seen on the right hand side by one of the dancers. Picasso felt that Pichot’s widow, Germaine Gargallo, had been in great part responsible for his friend’s death, and we see in La Danse Picasso’s fear that his increasingly fractious relationship with Olga, often identified as the central dancer, could have the same impact on his own happiness and health. When Picasso showed the finished painting to André Breton, it was immediately seized upon as a surrealist icon.
In 1966, Picasso authorized Atelier J. de la Baume-Dürrbach in Cavalaire, France, to create an edition of three tapestries after La Danse. Picasso had been working closely with Dürrbach since 1955, when they produced a tapestry of Guernica. Picasso and Dürrbach went on to work closely together to produce a number of Picasso’s iconic works as tapestries, particularly for Nelson Rockefeller, who commissioned 18 different designs.
The present work is the third example from the edition. The first example was sold to Nelson A. Rockefeller, Tarrytown, New York and the second to the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris.