Pablo Picasso’s “Woman Sitting in an Armchair, 12 October 1941” is a famous oil painting that depicts his second wife, Jacqueline Picasso, seated in a velvety purple armchair holding a newspaper. Measuring at 36 3/8 x 29 inches, the painting shows signs of influence from Salvador Dali and Joan Miro’s works. It is also said to have references to Fang and Baule sculptures as well as French neo-classical painter Jean Auguste Dominque Ingres.
This artwork was completed in May 1929 and is part of the Florene May Schoenborn Bequest Collection. Picasso painted this portrait in his signature Analytical Cubist style with subdued colors that create a melancholic atmosphere. The piece was intentionally made to shock viewers due to its unconventional style during that time.
The painting conveys emotions through Jacqueline’s strong yet delicate facial features blurred into geometric shapes and lines representing cubism proportions. The color themes of purple, grey-green with blue creates contrast within the subject matter producing eeriness yet calmness with angular impacts creating depth between tones.
Overall, Woman Sitting in An Armchair holds extreme significance because like most artworks from Pablo Picasso’s era; it presents distorted elements aimed at subverting established notions of how an artwork should look like while still capturing artist’s creativity perspective on beauty versus reality.
