Picasso - Nude with bouquet of irises and mirror

This portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter was painted in May 1934 at the Château de Boisgeloup where Picasso had his studio. Inspired by his model, the artist would paint large portraits of women with generous curves in 1932. In this painting, the palette is practically limited to the two complementary tones of dark green and purple. The bouquet of blue irises recalls the flat blue of the sky, reflected in the mirror.

The work oscillates between a nude, classic in Western painting referring to the figures of Venus and the portrait of his muse. It is a period of serenity for the artist symbolized by the blue irises, a pledge of tender love.

The work also oscillates between the interior nude as developed by Ingres and the exterior nude whose archetype is for Picasso Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass". We also find the mirror as an element of composition, this symbolic mirror, recalling Velazquez's Las Meninas, a work that fascinated Picasso so much and refers to the figure of the painter as the first spectator of his work.

Nude with bouquet of irises and mirror, 1934

© Picasso Administration