Product：Picasso's ＂The Woman in the Chair＂

NO：1032

Starting Price：HKD 70,000,000

Transaction Price：HKD 93,086,500

Specification：92×73cm

Auction Time：23-Jun-Fri

Auction Company：Sotheby\'s in Hong Kong

When Fran ç ois met Picasso, he was only 21 years old and in his prime, while his partner was already in his sixties. The distance between ages is unstoppable. Fran ç ois and Picasso fell in love, and they got into a passionate relationship. They moved to Vallauris in southern France to live together and spent about 10 years together. The woman also gave birth to Claude and Paloma, a son and a daughter for Picasso.
 

However, this relationship could not be successfully completed. Seeing the fate of mistresses such as Mary Tres and Dora Mare, Fran ç ois, who had no name or share, realized that her relationship with Picasso would be difficult to maintain for a long time. In the end, he decided to leave this peerless genius with his children and become the only woman who dared to love and voluntarily left him.
 

The "Woman in the Chair" was completed on Christmas Day 1948, when Fran ç ois was pregnant with Picasso's child. Picasso painted portraits of his loved ones, with almost all of them sitting on armchairs, and this work is no exception. It is interesting that Picasso once said to Fran ç ois, "I have never seen you sit quietly. You are not the one waiting to be painted, I have never seen you standing.
 

Nevertheless, Picasso still habitually depicted Fran ç ois sitting in an armchair, as seen in this work. The painting depicts Fran ç ois sitting on an armchair resembling a throne, with a charming posture that exudes charm and confidence, while also exhibiting a daring personality. The red part in the painting is also worth mentioning, and its creative inspiration comes from a red embroidered coat gifted to Fran ç ois by Picasso. Back in 1948, Picasso had to leave Fran ç ois, who was pregnant, to attend the First World Congress for the Defense of Peace in Poland.
 

As compensation, Picasso returned from Poland with a delicate red embroidered coat as a gift, which Fran ç ois accidentally wore. Since the autumn of 1948, this brightly colored dress has become the inspiration for Picasso to paint portraits of Fran ç ois, and Picasso also completed a series of related prints the following year.