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©Pablo Picasso - 1955 The Studio

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From Tate Gallery, London:
A major painting from the 1950s, Studio depicts the studio of ‘La Californie’, the villa near Cannes where Picasso and his partner Jacqueline Roque had moved in the summer of 1955. A large nineteenth-century villa at the foot of the Sainte Victoire mountain, La Californie was built in Art Nouveau style and had extensive views towards the coast. Picasso used the large main salon on the ground floor as his studio as well as the place where he received and entertained friends and dealers.
Between 23 and 31 October 1955 Picasso depicted views of his studio eleven times, returning to the same subject on 12 November for a twelfth canvas. With the exception of the twelfth work, all the Studio paintings are in portrait format, but vary in size, from 730 x 540 mm to 1950 x 1300 mm. This work was painted over two days, 30 and 31 October (on 30 October Picasso also completed two other Studios). Picasso applied the paint directly on the canvas with a brush and a palette knife, using the end of the brush to scrape the paint and reveal the ground in several places. In some background areas, particularly the window, the paint was applied thinly and the ground was occasionally left visible, while in others, such as the sculpted head, Picasso used a thick impasto. The image represents particular aspects of the studio – the ornate Art Nouveau window, certain tools and even a guitar hanging on the wall – elements which were repeated in all twelve studio canvases.