Femme nue endormie ou morte (Danae?) (Nude woman sleeping or dead [Danae?]) 1934

Pablo Picasso’s etching Femme nue endormie ou morte (Danae?) (Nude woman sleeping or dead [Danae?]) 1934 shows a female figure reclining naked, her arms stretched out above her head. Although not stated, it can be deduced the woman is Marie-Thérèse Walter, a Swiss-French model and lover of Picasso from around 1927 to 1935. Whilst the drawing of the woman is Neoclassical in style, the print  bears vigorous diagonal drypoint marks to its top left quarter suggestive of a dark cloud of rain, and is a proof aside from the numbered edition of 50.

Femme nue endormie ou morte (Danae?) can be read as a study to Picasso’s suite of paintings featuring Marie-Thérèse, which were at the heart of a particularly fervent and productive period in his career. Likewise similar prints which were collected together as the Vollard Suite, including a sleeping woman visited by a forceful minotaur, a figure with which Picasso identified. A large-scale painting with a similar title depicts Marie-Thérèse at the centre of a dynamic, colourful canvas, her highly abstracted figure exuding fertility, sexuality and grace. Picasso was obsessed with his muse and eventual mother to one of his children. He created some of the most erotic, hypnotic and alluring images of his career during their relationship, emblems of his passion and desire for her.