Painted in the Netherlands in the summer of 1905, La Belle Hollandaise is a key painting that marks a transition from the subdued hues of Pablo Picasso’s ‘blue period’ to brighter and happier ‘rose’ works. 

Little is known about this young Dutch woman from a tight-knit village who sat for Picasso. Working quickly in water-based paints and chalk on card, the artist captures an intimate and relaxed moment with this ‘beautiful Dutch girl’. Picasso must have been pleased with the result — he inscribed the work at the top left as a gift to Paco Durio, his dear friend and neighbour in the Parisian suburb of Montmartre.

You can watch footage of the 1959 auction at which Queensland Art Gallery acquired this work, courtesy the Walter J Brown Media Archives.

Work installed in QAG's Gallery 2 (l–r): Degas’s Danseuse au repos, les mains sur les hanches, jambe droite en avant, première étude c.1882–95, cast c.1919–21; Picasso’s La Belle Hollandaise 1905 / © Succession Picasso/Copyright Agency; and Rodin’s L’Age d’airain (The Bronze age) 1876–77, cast 1955, October 2010 / Photograph: N Harth, QAGOMA