VIERNES, 24 DE OCTUBRE DE 2025 
A Major Rediscovery
Painted on 11 July 1943, Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) has remained hidden from view for over eight decades, preserved in the same family collection since its purchase in 1944.
Until now, the work was known only through a photograph taken by Brassa. in Picasso’s Grands- Augustins studio in 1944, and a black-and-white reproduction in Christian Zervos’ catalogue raisonné.
Depicting Dora Maar at the close of her relationship with Picasso, the painting belongs to the celebrated Woman in a Hat series. Its reappearance on the market is a moment of rare significance, revealing for the first time the full radiance of a work long kept secret.
Picasso in Occupied Paris
In 1943, Paris was under German occupation. The regime had branded Picasso’s art “degenerate”, which subjected him to searches, threats and a ban on exhibiting. Yet he continued to paint with unrelenting intensity, transforming his inner turmoil and the brutality of war into his own visual language.
A true “war portrait,” Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) embodies this inner resistance. Its composition, which is almost disjointed, contrasts with the luminous motif of the hat, adorned with stylised daisies on a red background. Each fragment is constructed in flat planes of bold colour and laid out without modelling or perspective.
The sitter’s anguished gaze, seemingly on the verge of tears, echoes both the famous Weeping Women series and a relationship at breaking point: Picasso had met Fran.oise Gilot only months earlier.
A celebrated photographer, activist, and artist in her own right, Dora Maar—Picasso’s companion since 1936—appears here as a tragic figure, reflecting both the era and their troubled relationship.
The hat, her signature accessory, appears as a crown, still resplendent, contrasting with the fragmentation of her face.As Picasso’s biographer John Richardson wrote, by this period Picasso came to depict Dora “as a sacrificial victim, a tearful symbol of his own pain and grief at the horrors of tyranny and war”.
A milestone in Picasso’s career
With its intensity, rarity, and impeccable provenance, Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) ranks as one of the most important rediscoveries of recent years. Estimated in the region of €8 Million, the work is a milestone in Picasso’s wartime production—a flash of brilliance in the darkest of times.
>>Download the press release (English version)<<
Pablo Picasso, a rediscovered portrait of Dora Maar
O n october 24, auction house Lucien Paris will unveil at the H.tel Drouot a long-hidden masterpiece by Picasso..
A Major Rediscovery
Painted on 11 July 1943, Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) has remained hidden from view for over eight decades, preserved in the same family collection since its purchase in 1944.
Until now, the work was known only through a photograph taken by Brassa. in Picasso’s Grands- Augustins studio in 1944, and a black-and-white reproduction in Christian Zervos’ catalogue raisonné.
Depicting Dora Maar at the close of her relationship with Picasso, the painting belongs to the celebrated Woman in a Hat series. Its reappearance on the market is a moment of rare significance, revealing for the first time the full radiance of a work long kept secret.
Picasso in Occupied Paris
In 1943, Paris was under German occupation. The regime had branded Picasso’s art “degenerate”, which subjected him to searches, threats and a ban on exhibiting. Yet he continued to paint with unrelenting intensity, transforming his inner turmoil and the brutality of war into his own visual language.
A true “war portrait,” Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) embodies this inner resistance. Its composition, which is almost disjointed, contrasts with the luminous motif of the hat, adorned with stylised daisies on a red background. Each fragment is constructed in flat planes of bold colour and laid out without modelling or perspective.
The sitter’s anguished gaze, seemingly on the verge of tears, echoes both the famous Weeping Women series and a relationship at breaking point: Picasso had met Fran.oise Gilot only months earlier.
Dora Maar: Muse and Tragic Icon
A celebrated photographer, activist, and artist in her own right, Dora Maar—Picasso’s companion since 1936—appears here as a tragic figure, reflecting both the era and their troubled relationship.
The hat, her signature accessory, appears as a crown, still resplendent, contrasting with the fragmentation of her face.As Picasso’s biographer John Richardson wrote, by this period Picasso came to depict Dora “as a sacrificial victim, a tearful symbol of his own pain and grief at the horrors of tyranny and war”.
A Year of Obsession
In his catalogue raisonné from 1943, Christian Zervos lists 28 portraits of women wearing hats, all of which were painted in that single year. This demonstrates Picasso’s genuine formal obsession, which he continued to explore. Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat is one of the most intense examples of this, with its frontal composition formed from flat areas of bold colour and the radical fragmentation of the features, animated by internal tensions.
A milestone in Picasso’s career
With its intensity, rarity, and impeccable provenance, Bust of a Woman with a Flowered Hat (Dora Maar) ranks as one of the most important rediscoveries of recent years. Estimated in the region of €8 Million, the work is a milestone in Picasso’s wartime production—a flash of brilliance in the darkest of times.
>>Download the press release (English version)<<
