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Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881 - 1973)
Woman in the Studio (Jacqueline Roque) [Femme dans l'atelier (Jacqueline Roque)],1956, oil on canvas.
Bequest from the Nancy Batson Rash and Dillman A. Rash Collection 1998.19.5

Jacqueline Roque was the last and most enduring of Picasso’s loves. She would become his second wife, and was with him for the last twenty years of his life. In this work, Jacqueline sits in sharp profile contemplating a canvas on an easel in Picasso’s “La Californie” studio in Cannes. The painting she is looking at incorporates several familiar motifs from the studio, an arched window framing a palm tree, an elaborate teapot, and yet another painting on an easel. The color palette is a relatively muted mix of black, grays, browns and green laid down in broad blocks. Jacqueline’s face and neck are left the unpainted white color of the canvas. The elements of the painting combine to depict Picasso’s later years, the studio, his work and his relationship with Jacqueline.