Sylvette, Sylvette, Sylvette. Picasso and the Model

Kunsthalle Bremen
22 February to 22 June 2014

“Sylvette, Sylvette, Sylvette: Picasso and the Model” 

In the spring of 1954, Picasso met the young Sylvette David in Vallauris on the Côte d'Azur. She embodied the ideal of beauty typical of that era- tall in stature, with long, blond hair bound in a pony tail - and inspired the painter to create a series of portraits. For months, he experimented in front of the model with various styles and techniques. With seeming effortlessness, Picasso varied his approach from realistic depictions to cubist abstractions of the same pictorial subject. With brush and pencil, Picasso created close-to-nature likenesses and complex abstractions of Sylvette.

Read a fascinating account here.

In 1955, the Kunsthalle Bremen acquired a typical example from this unique series and now - sixty years later - is presenting the first exhibition devoted exclusively to these works, with important loans from throughout the world. The series comprises more than fifty works consisting of drawings, paintings, metal sculptures, and ceramics. Photography by David Douglas Duncan, Alexander Liberman, Arnold Newman, François Pages, Edward Quinn and André Villers document the sessions in Picasso's studio and the relationship between artist and model. The exhibited photographs and works of art offer insights into Picasso's creative process as well as the Zeitgeist, fashion and glamorous lifestyle on the Côte d'Azur during the 1950s.

The Sylvette series is contextualised through a number of works documenting Picasso’s work and style during this decade. Picasso met Sylvette at a critical moment of his artistic career and personal life. His relationship with Françoise Gilot ended in September 1953, causing a personal and creative crisis. In the summer of 1954 he met Jacqueline Roque who was to become the artist’s companion until the end of his life.

The exhibition presents a variety of related portraits of Françoise Gilot and Jacqueline Roque as well as works on the theme of painter and model, framing the Sylvette series within the wider exploration of creativity, desire and progress of time.

Pablo Picasso
Sylvette, 1954
Oil on canvas
Kunsthalle Bremen ― Der
Kunstverein in Bremen
© Succession Picasso / VG Bild-
Kunst, Bonn 2013

Pablo Picasso
Sylvette, 1954
© Succession Picasso / VG Bild-
Kunst, Bonn 2013

Pablo Picasso
Françoise als Sonne, 15. Juni 1946
© Succession Picasso / VG Bild-
Kunst, Bonn 2013



Pablo Picasso
Frau im Atelier, 6. Oktober 1956
© Succession Picasso / VG Bild-
Kunst, Bonn 2013



Catalogue

“Sylvette, Sylvette, Sylvette. Picasso and the Model” (German / English), edited by Christoph Grunenberg and Astrid Becker, Texts by Elizabeth Cowling, Markus Müller, Diana Widmaier Picasso et al., as well as an interview with Sylvette David, 300 pages, ca. 270 illustrations, Prestel Verlag,