The Associated Press reports that on November 13th in New York, Christie’s will be auctioning off Femme accroupie (Jacqueline) – English title: Crouching Woman (Jacqueline) – depicting and named after Picasso’s second wife Jacqueline Roque, who was married to the master from 1961 until his death in 1973. But the portrait was made before they were married, and is one of three Picasso painted on a single day in October of 1954, in his studio located in the south of France. All three of the paintings depict Roque in a crouching position, arms wrapped around her knees, in a style somewhat reminiscent of artist Henri Matisse, who influenced Picasso at the time. Crouching Woman (Jacqueline) is being sold from a private collection and Christie’s is estimating (and hoping, it goes without saying), that it will get anywhere from $20 million to $30 million once all is said and done. Not bad for something Picasso tossed off in a day – but it took him decades to learn how to do it.
