Pablo Picasso – Le Matador UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16.5 MILLION
Picasso’s Le Matador will make its auction debut at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art evening sale in London on February 28. Monumental in scale and painted in vivid colours Le Matador is the culmination of a life-long obsession of Picasso’s that remained one of the most important themes throughout his career.
The painting is a brilliant display of the virtuosity with which the artist combined the complex elements that had shaped his life and art and stands as a defiant tribute to the heroic figure of the matador – embodying the artist’s own Andalusian machismo as the master of modern art takes centre-stage in the arena.
Picasso had begun to feel that his time on this earth was running out, and so engaged in constant conversation with the great masters before him – Goya, Velasquez and Delacroix – following the traditions they had set in order to reinvent them and make a lasting mark. Painted in October 1970 it is estimated at £14-18 million.
Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said: ‘This powerful portrait exemplifies Picasso’s creative force in his final years and represents the culmination of a life-long obsession. Through the subject of the bullfight, Picasso explores the theme of life and death, creation and destruction, earth and sun, casting himself at the centre stage of the spectacle. We are thrilled to be presenting two prime examples of works by Picasso at his very best in one sale – Le Matador and Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) – both from key periods of the artist’s career.’
