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Dora Maar in a Wicker Chair

1938
Not on view
The Surrealist photographer Dora Maar (1907–1997) was the artist's lover from 1936 to 1943. In contrast to his languid pictures of Marie-Thérèse Walter (see MMA 1997.149.4), Picasso's portraits of Maar are sharp and frenetic. Here, the thirty-one-year-old Maar appears as a giddy spider queen, sitting atop a throne with crossed arms and legs at the center of a weblike world. Her hands are curiously splayed, her breasts are conical shells, and her ears evoke two little bells.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dora Maar in a Wicker Chair
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: 1938
  • Medium: Black ink and pastel over charcoal on paper
  • Dimensions: 30 7/16 × 22 1/8 in. (77.3 × 56.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998
  • Object Number: 1999.363.70
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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