Homme et femme

Painted during the summer of 1967, Homme et femme embodies Picasso’s renewed interest in the charged interaction between the painter and his model, a theme which occupied him almost continuously throughout the final decade of his life. This work not only offers a glimpse into the passionate relationship between Picasso and Jacqueline, whom he married in 1961, but also the extreme zeal with which he approached the act of painting in his twilight years. Picasso was driven by an enormous urge to create during this final chapter of his career, resulting in a great flourishing of painterly work that was characterized by its vitality, fervent energy and distinct sense of spontaneity.
Homme et femme stands as an affirmation of Picasso’s continued artistic dynamism and endless creative exploration of time-old subjects. Bold, gestural brushstrokes give form to the powerful and monumental male reclining nude at the center of the composition, whose oversized right hand alludes to the act of creation itself. The young male figure stands as an idealized self-portrait of an artist seeking to reclaim his virility in this new phase of life. Bearded and nude, this figure represents the embodiment of an ancient Mediterranean stock, perhaps an image out of mythology and literature, or a nod to Roman wall paintings—a figure that transcends time itself. The expressive, gestural strokes used in his depiction contrast with the precise, delicate and unbroken lines that delineate the exquisite hieratic profile of the muse immediately to his right. As if etched into the artist’s memory, Jacqueline’s likeness is immortalized through the exactitude of her execution and her deliberate placement next to the male nude’s face creates an interlocking image that is one of both tension and complementarity. Swaths of green and blue further connect and breathe life into the space between these figures.
While Picasso had always merged and synthesized numerous sources in his work, compositions such as Homme et femme are defined by their expression of the artist’s lived experiences through the vigor of their execution. Residing in almost complete seclusion with Jacqueline at Notre-Dame-de-Vie in Mougins, the artist was able to immerse himself entirely in his work, painting without disturbance for long hours each day. The result was an exuberant burst of creativity that belied the artist’s age, as he produced an astounding body of work that valiantly proclaimed his undiminished powers of creation. Indeed, this work bears the hallmarks of its own creation: with Picasso's brushwork in fierce evidence, he has deliberately created a range of contrasts between the areas of the sheet that are visible and the more vigorously applied brushstrokes. On the one hand, this reflects Picasso's own passion, be it for painting or for the subject; and on the other hand, it reflects his ever-increasing awareness of his own mortality.
It is this passion for painting, for life, for creation itself, which makes Picasso’s art from the twilight years of his career seem so vital and compelling to this day. Driven by a heady mixture of desire and memory, they show an artist painting without restraint, as he tried to express all that remained within his creative imagination, before it was too late: “I have less and less time [to paint],” he proclaimed in a moment of poignant honesty, “and I have more and more to say…” (quoted in M.-L. Bernadac, “Picasso, 1953-1972: Painting as Model,” Late Picasso, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1988, p. 85).
Homme et femme was acquired by Grete Tugendhat in August 1969, who together with her husband Fritz, commissioned Villa Tugendhat, in Brno, Czech Republic from the renowned architect and designor duo, Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. The house is now an iconic Modernist building which was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.