Melancholy Woman

1902

Pablo Picasso Spanish, 1881-1973

On View

Modern, Level 2, North Wing

Melancholy Woman: 1 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Melancholy Woman

Artwork Date 1902

Artist Pablo Picasso

Life Dates 1881-1973

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Spanish

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 39 3/8 × 27 1/4 inches (100 × 69.2 cm) Framed: 46 5/8 × 34 7/8 × 1 3/4 inches (118.4 × 88.6 × 4.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Modern Art to 1970

Credit Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 70.190

Markings

Signed Signed, upper left: Picasso

Provenance

ca. 1905, the artist, Pablo Picasso [1881-1973] (Paris, France).
Michael and Sarah Stein (Paris, France).
(Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler [1884-1979], probably Paris, France).
(Paul Guillaume [1891-1934], Paris, France).
(F. Valentine Dudensing [1892-1967], New York, New York, USA).
1934, Robert H. Tannahill [1893-1969] (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA);
1970-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Raynal, Maurice. Picasso. Paris, 1922, no. 10.

Waldemar, G. La Grande Peinture a la Collection Paul Guillaume. Paris, 1929, pp. 115, 117.

Exposition Picasso. Exh. cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, 1932, no. 25.

Zervos, Christine. Pablo Picasso, I. Paris, 1932, no. 133 (pl. LXV).

Picasso. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zurich. Zurich, 1932, no. 13.

Huyghe, R., ed. Histoire de l'Art Contemporaine. Paris, 1935, p. 212 (pl. 267).

Picasso Blue and Rose Periods, 1901-1906. Exh. cat., Jacques Seligmann and Co. New York, 1936, no. 13. [as "Woman Seated with Fichu"]

Daix, Pierre and Georges Boudaille. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods. Greenwich, Connecticut, 1967, p. 208 (VII, 6).

Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 172 (ill.).

The Robert Hudson Tannahill Bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1970, pp. 13, 29, 53 (ill.).

Young, Mahonri Sharp. "The Delights of Collecting." Apollo 92, 101 (July 1970): p. 64 (pl. vii).

"Acquisitions by Museum of Works by Picasso." The Burlington Magazine 113, 823 (October 1971): p. 625 (pl. 71).

Clay, J. De l'Impressionnisme a l'Art Moderne. Paris, 1975 (pl. 35).

Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1989, no. 84 (ill.).

DIA Handbook. 1995, p. 274.

McCully, Marilyn, ed. Picasso: The Early Years, 1892–1906. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, 1997, pp. 173, no. 74 (ill.), 199, 300, figs. 1–2, 357.

Bezzola, Tobia. Picasso: His First Museum Exhibition 1932. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich, 2010, pp. 51, cat. 4 (ill.), 98 (ill.), 195, 212, 253.

McCully, Marilyn. Picasso in Paris, 1900-1907: Eating Fire, Exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum/Museu Picasso, 2011, pp. 105, 107, pl. 59, 239.

Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso...L'Aventure des Stein. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 2011, p. 177, no. 57 (ill.).

Splendeurs & misères: Images de la prostitution, 1850–1910. Exh. cat., Musée d’Orsay/Van Gogh Museum, 2015, pp. 8 (ill.), 134, 286.

Easy Virtue. Prostitution in French Art, 1850–1910. Exh. cat., Van Gogh Museum/Musée d’Orsay, 2016, pp. 9, cat. 2 (ill.), 163, 178.

Abt, Jeffrey. Valuing Detroit’s Art Museum: A History of Fiscal Abandonment and Rescue. Detroit, 2017, pp. xvii, 214, fig. 6.5 (ill.).

Picasso: Bleu et rose. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay/Musée National Picasso-Paris. Vanves: Hazan, 2018, pp. 120, 126-127, cat. 91 (ill.), 295, 356.

Bouvier, Raphaël, ed. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods. Exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler. Basel, 2019, pp. 76-77 (ill.).

Picasso: Painting the Blue Period. Exh. cat., The Phillips Collection and Art Gallery of Ontario. New York, 2021, p. 76 (fig. 17).

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