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Details
- Alternative title
- Femme nue à la chaise à bascule Mujer desnuda en una mecedora Nu à la chaise à bascule Femme nue au fauteuil à bascule
- Date
- 1956
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 196.0 x 130.8 cm stretcher; 213.0 x 147.5 x 8.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed u.r., black oil "Picasso". Dated c. verso canvas, black oil "26.3./ 56.".
- Credit
- Purchased 1981
- Location
- Naala Nura, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 66.1981
- Copyright
- © Pablo Picasso/Succession Pablo Picasso. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Pablo Picasso
Works in the collection
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About
At the age of 75, Picasso was inspired by his new home in Cannes, France by the light, his studio, and his young lover and future wife Jacqueline Roque, who was a constant source for the figure in his late paintings. Here he paints a powerful nude with background elements reminiscent of the late interiors of his long-time rival Henri Matisse.
'Nude in a rocking chair' is an unlikely combination of joyful light and colour and aggressive fragmentation. Picasso’s compulsive exploration of the human (often female) form here take on a violent distortion and dissection. The face has been relocated to the belly, with the navel as eye and genitals as jagged mouth – an image of a destructive feminine force in a broader composition of calm and repose.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 18 exhibitions
Ausstellung "Artistes espagnols", Galerie Beyeler, Switzerland, May 1969–Jun 1969
Ausstellung "Summertime", Galerie Beyeler, Switzerland, Jul 1970–Sep 1970
Picasso, Braque, Leger: masterpieces from Swiss collections, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, United States of America, 30 Oct 1975–04 Jan 1976
Picasso, Braque, Leger: masterpieces from Swiss collections, The Sarah Campbell Blafter Gallery, Houston, Texas, 17 Jan 1976–07 Mar 1976
Picasso, Braque, Leger: masterpieces from Swiss collections, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 19 Mar 1976–04 May 1976
Picasso: aus dem Museum of Modern Art New York und Schweizer Sammlungen, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, 15 Jun 1976–12 Sep 1976
Picasso, Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Sep 1977–Nov 1977
Exposicio Picasso, Museu Picasso, Spain, 05 Dec 1977–10 Jan 1978
Three years on: acquisitions 1978-81, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Oct 1981–01 Dec 1981
Picasso, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 28 Jul 1984–23 Sep 1984
Picasso, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Oct 1984–02 Dec 1984
Le dernier Picasso 1953-1973, Musée National d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, 15 Feb 1988–16 May 1988
Late Picasso: paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972, Tate Britain, England, 23 Jun 1988–18 Sep 1988
Matisse and Picasso: a gentle rivalry, Kimbell Art Museum, United States of America, 02 Feb 1999–05 May 1999
Picasso: indoor and outdoor landscapes, Museu Picasso, Spain, 26 Oct 1999–30 Jan 2000
Picasso: las grandes series, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 26 Mar 2001–18 Jun 2001
Picasso: the last decades, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 Nov 2002–16 Feb 2003
Matisse and the moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Apr 2015–25 Oct 2015
Modernists: selections from the European collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 07 Nov 2015–25 Apr 2016
Matisse and Picasso, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 13 Dec 2019–13 Apr 2020
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 27 publications
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Marie-Laure Bernadac, Late Picasso: paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints 1953-1972, 'Picasso 1953-1972: painting as model', pg.49-94, London, 1988, 58, 158 (colour illus.). cat.no. 6
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Yves-Alain Bois, Matisse and Picasso, 'Introduction: four angles', pg.10-23, Paris, 1998, 17, 20, 236, 237 (colour illus.). plate no. 229, 'Woman in a rocking chair'
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Valeriano Bozal, Picasso: indoor and outdoor landscapes, 'Making a landscape out of the body', pg.7-12, Madrid, 1999, cover (colour illus.), 11, 17, 141 (colour illus.), 273 (illus.). cat.no. 115
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'European 20th Century Art', pg. 91-95, Sydney, 1984, 92 (colour illus.), 93.
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Jane Fraser, The Australian, 'Immortal in imagination', Sydney, 05 Jan 2004, 12 (illus.).
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Renee Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales collection series 4, 'Pablo Picasso 1891-1973: Nude in a rocking chair. 1956', pg. 13-16, Sydney, Winter 1983, 13 (illus.), 14.
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Renée Free, Three years on: a selection of acquisitions 1978-1981, 'European Art', pg. 27-36, Sydney, 1981, cover (colour illus.), 32 (colour illus.). cat.no. 3
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Renee Free, Art and Australia, 'European Acquisitions: 1972-83', pg. 63-67, Sydney, Spring 1984, 67.
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Renée Free, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'European', pg. 36-56, Sydney, 1988, 53, 54 (colour illus.), 55.
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Renée Free, AGNSW Collections, 'The Western Heritage, Renaissance to Twentieth Century', pg.108-172, Sydney, 1994, 169 (colour illus.).
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Fundación Juan March, Picasso, Madrid, 1977, (colour illus.). cat.no. 24, titled 'Mujer desnuda en una mecedora'
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Galerie Beyeler, Ausstellung "Artistes espagnols", Basel, 1969. cat.no. 44
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Galerie Beyeler, Ausstellung "Summertime", Basel, 1970. cat.no. 52, titled 'Femme nue au fauteuil à bascule'
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Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso at 90: the late work, London, 1971, 84 (colour illus.). cat.no. 113
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Sydney, 1999, cover (colour illus.), 65 (colour illus.).
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Jane Kinsman, Matisse & Picasso, 'Life and death', pg.156-173, Canberra, 2019, 171, 173 (colour illus.).
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Paloma Esteban Leal, Picasso: las grandes series, 'Las grandes series: el artista frente al proceso de creación', pg.19-98, Madrid, 2001, 57, 233 (colour illus.), 374 (illus.), 545. cat.no. 19
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Terence Maloon (Curator), Picasso: the last decades, 'Foreward', pg.11-12, Sydney, 2002, 11-12, 18, 48, 53, 93 (colour illus.). cat.no. 16
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Terence Maloon, Look, 'Picasso at La Californie', pg.24-27, Sydney, Oct 2002, 25-27, 26 (colour illus.).
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Patrick McCaughey and Judith Ryan (Editors), Picasso, 'Late Picasso', pg.153-178, Melbourne, 1984, 168 (colour illus.), 236. cat.no. 158
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Musée National d'Art Moderne de Paris, Le dernier Picasso 1953-1973, Paris, 1988, 161 (colour illus.). cat.no. 8
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Museu Picasso, Exposició Picasso = exposición Picasso, Barcelona, 1977. cat.no. 28
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Monte Packham, Living with Matisse, Picasso, and Christo. Theodor Ahrenberg and his collections, 'Picasso', pg.136-53, London, 2018, 136 (colour illus.), 138 (illus.).
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William Rubin, Picasso in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1972, 180, 245 (illus.). fig. 176, illustrated in reference to 'Woman by a window' 1956
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Agathe Straumann (Editor), Picasso: aus dem Museum of Modern Art New York und Schweizer Sammlungen, Basel, 1976, 158, 159 (illus.). cat.no. 80
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Picasso, Braque, Léger: masterpieces from Swiss collections, Minneapolis, 1975.
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Christian Zervos, Picasso oeuvres de 1956 a 1957, Paris, 1957. XVI, 55
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Provenance
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, Paris/France, No 07147 [label verso]
Theodor Ahrenberg, Stockholm/Sweden, by 1960. 'Living with Matisse, Picasso, and Christo. Theodor Ahrenberg and his collections' page 138, B&W photo of painting hanging in Ahrenberg's home 1960
Kronofogdemyndigheten, Stockholm/Sweden, Enforcement Authority, by 1963. Ahrenberg was prosecuted for tax evasion and his art collection confiscated and sold in a series of auctions beginning in 1963
Galerie Beyeler, Feb 1968-1976, Basel/Switzerland
Private Collection, 1976-May 1981, London/England, Collector wishes to remain anonymous. Purchased by the AGNSW, 22 May 1981.