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Pablo Picasso’s Paysage au pin, 1953, is one of thirteen landscape (paysage) paintings executed by the artist over a period of several weeks from June 10-July 1, 1953. Termed the Transformateur series, the comprising works all depict the same view from the artist’s home at Villa la Gauloise in Vallauris, in the South of France. Picasso moved to the villa in 1948, where he enjoyed a calm, domestic period of life with Françoise Gilot and their two children. The feeling of being settled in place with a family inspired Picasso to paint his immediate environs.
Pablo Picasso, Françoise Gilot, Claude Picasso and Paloma Picasso in the garden of La Galloise, Vallauris 1953. Image: Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com Three distinct visual elements occur across each painting in the Transformateur series: a house, an electric transformer, and the present work’s titular pin tree. The neutral, consistent presence of these three in each work allows Picasso’s formal expression to take center stage. With each work, Picasso takes on a new stylistic challenge; the Transformateur paintings serve as an index of the artist’s skill set, and a deconstruction of Picasso’s innovative Cubist mindset itself.
Works from the Transformateur series in museum collections
Jardins à Vallauris, June 15, 1953. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Paysage à Vallauris [Pin et palmier], June 10, 1953, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Paysage à Vallauris, June 14, 1953, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Image: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / Bridgeman Images, Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York -
Jardins à Vallauris, June 15, 1953. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York -
Paysage à Vallauris [Pin et palmier], June 10, 1953, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Artwork: © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Dated June 15, 1953, Paysage au Pin falls in the first third of the series by date. The three works directly preceding or sharing its date are all in prestigious museum collections. Focusing on the pine tree, in the first work, Paysage de Vallauris [Pin et palmier], June 10, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the simplified tree trunk unfolds naturally into bright, summery green pine needles. But four days later, in Paysage à Vallauris, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the trunk shrinks to a wizened black line; the pine needles are dark and sharp, like a cluster of holly. The next day, it is winter for the pine tree in Jardin à Vallauris, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, with its grey trunk and sticklike branches, no green needles in sight. And yet, in the present work, it is summer again, with three round, bright green shapes signifying the top of the tree. A shift from brush-led expression to geometric representation is complete.
"This change [over the course of the Transformateur works] shows just how uninterested he is in producing a series as such, and how persistently he exploits everything a subject has to offer to his inventiveness."
—Klaus GallwitzThe Cubism at play here is a deconstructed cubism; a cubism in slow motion. One can imagine layering Paysage au pin and its series mates on top of each other, each perspective angling into a cohesive, Cubist whole. Picasso’s continued interest in Cubist principles, nearly fifty years after the movement’s inception, reveals just how centrally aligned the movements tenants were with the artist’s personal practice.
Paul Cézanne, Paysage au toit rouge ou Le Pin à l’Estaque, 1875-1876. Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Image: Bridgeman Images With Paysage au pin and its companions, Picasso invokes a long history of innovation in painting inspired by the French landscape, especially over the course of the 19th century. The stylistic shift from Paysage à Vallauris [Pin et palmier] to Paysage du pin echoes the genre’s evolution from Théodore Rousseau and the realist Fontainebleau group, for example, to the expressive landscapes of Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. Speaking of his landscapes, Picasso said, “my trees are myself.”i With Paysage au pin, Picasso places himself, and his distinct way of seeing, within this artistic legacy of landscape.
i Pablo Picasso, quoted in John Richardson, A Life of Picasso, 1907-1917, The Painter of Modern Life, vol. II, New York, 1996, p. 93.Provenance
Galerie Simon, Paris
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris (acquired in 1953)
Curt Valentin Gallery, New York
Christie's, London, June 30, 1967, lot 96
Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago (acquired at the above sale)
Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York
Henry and Elizabeth Blazy, Cleveland (acquired from the above on January 2, 1968)
Christie’s, New York, May 14, 1999, lot 698
Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)
Martin Lawrence Galleries, San Francisco
Acquired from the above by the present ownerExhibited
New York, Curt Valentin Gallery, Pablo Picasso, 1950-1953, November 24–December 19, 1953, no. 19, n.p. (illustrated; titled as Landscape with Pine Tree)
Cleveland Museum of Art (on extended loan, 1977–1999)
Seoul, Opera Gallery, Le Sacre du Printemps, March 28–April 28, 2013, p. 14 (illustrated, p. 15)
Monaco, Opera Gallery, Highlights: The Monaco Masters Show, July 5–August 31, 2013 (detail illustrated, p. 8; illustrated, p. 9); then travelled as Singapore, Opera Gallery, 20th Anniversary, April 25–May 11, 2014 (p. 18, illustrated, p. 19); then travelled as Hong Kong, Opera Gallery, Modern Masterpieces (Celebrating a Decade: Timepieces), November 13–December 4, 2014, p. 32 (detail illustrated; illustrated, p. 33)Literature
Laure Galvaire, "Les Cours des ventes - Picasso: le peintre vivant le plus cher," Connaissance des arts, no. 190, December 1967, fig. 5, p. 139 (illustrated)
Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso Laureatus: Son œuvre depuis 1945, Geneva, 1971, no. 69, p. 66 (illustrated, p. 67)
Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso Laureatus: Sein malerisches Werk seit 1945, Luzern, 1971, no. 69, p. 66 (illustrated, p. 67)
Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso at 90: The Late Work, New York, 1971, p. 66 (illustrated, p. 67; titled as Landscape with Pine)
Cleveland Museum of Art, "Annual Report for 1977," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 65, no. 6, June 1978, p. 189
Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso. Œuvres de 1946 à 1953, vol. 15, Paris, 1983, no. 280, p. 167 (illustrated, p. 154)
Klaus Gallwitz, Picasso: The Heroic Years, New York, 1985, p. 66 (illustrated, p. 67; titled as Landscape with Pine)Artist Biography
Pablo Picasso
Spanish • 1881 - 1973
One of the most dominant and influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso was a master of endless reinvention. While significantly contributing to the movements of Surrealism, Neoclassicism and Expressionism, he is best known for pioneering the groundbreaking movement of Cubism alongside fellow artist Georges Braque in the 1910s. In his practice, he drew on African and Iberian visual culture as well as the developments in the fast-changing world around him.
Throughout his long and prolific career, the Spanish-born artist consistently pushed the boundaries of art to new extremes. Picasso's oeuvre is famously characterized by a radical diversity of styles, ranging from his early forays in Cubism to his Classical Period and his later more gestural expressionist work, and a diverse array of media including printmaking, drawing, ceramics and sculpture as well as theater sets and costumes designs.
Property of an Esteemed Private Collector
Ο◆37
Paysage au pin
signed "Picasso" lower left; dated "15 juin 53" on the reverse
oil on canvas
15 x 21 3/4 in. (38.1 x 55.2 cm)
Painted on June 15, 1953.
Estimate
$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
Amanda Lo Iacono
Global Managing Director and Specialist, Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1278
ALoiacono@phillips.com
Carolyn Mayer
Associate Specialist, Associate Head of Evening Sale, New York
+1 212 940 1206
CMayer@phillips.com
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale
New York Auction 15 November 2022
1
Ilana Savdie
Marimonda Desplegada
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $176,400
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2
Danica Lundy
Miss Fist Kiss
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $189,000
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3
Lauren Quin
Arrow
Estimate $70,000 - 100,000
Sold for $163,800
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4
Avery Singer
Untitled
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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5
Rashid Johnson
Standing Broken Men
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,724,000
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6
Pablo Picasso
Mousquetaire buste
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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7
Julie Mehretu
Tsunemasa (next to Kaija)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,386,000
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8
Cy Twombly
Untitled
Estimate $35,000,000 - 45,000,000
Sold for $41,640,000
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9
René Magritte
Le météore
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,265,000
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10
Amy Sherald
Pilgrimage of the Chameleon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,087,000
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11
Loie Hollowell
Lick, Lick in Purple, maroon-yellow
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,361,000
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12
Tom Wesselmann
Mouth #14 (Marilyn)
Estimate $3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Sold for $3,236,500
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13
René Magritte
Le coup de grâce
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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14
Anna Weyant
Bum
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $390,600
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15
Mark Bradford
He Barked Just Like a Watchdog
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Circus No. 12 Face 44.30)
Estimate $8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for $9,809,000
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17
Marc Chagall
Le Père
Estimate $6,000,000 - 8,000,000
Sold for $7,404,500
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18
Marlene Dumas
Snow White in the Wrong Story
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $3,781,000
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19
María Berrío
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,603,000
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20
Alex Katz
The Grey Dress
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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21
Yayoi Kusama
All The Eternal Love
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,966,000
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22
Alexander Calder
Plutôt jaune
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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23
Amy Sherald
Madame Noire
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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24
Jean-Michel Basquiat
To Repel Ghosts
Estimate $7,000,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for $7,862,500
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25
This lot is no longer available.
26
Yayoi Kusama
Nets Blue
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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27
Lucy Bull
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $478,800
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28
Willem de Kooning
Untitled
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,870,000
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29
Milton Avery
Hot Moon
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,208,000
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30
Amoako Boafo
Pink Shorts
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $403,200
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31
Rashid Johnson
Untitled Anxious Collage
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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32
Joan Mitchell
Cobalt
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
Sold for $3,418,000
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33
Andy Warhol
Oxidation
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,450,000
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34
Alexander Calder
Petite croix
Estimate $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold for $4,023,000
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35
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36
Willem de Kooning
Event in a Barn
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Sold for $3,055,000
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37
Pablo Picasso
Paysage au pin
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $1,482,000
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38
Mickalene Thomas
I Can’t See Me Without You
Estimate $350,000 - 550,000
Sold for $441,000
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39
Balthus
La Sieste
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $1,058,500
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40
Andy Warhol
Nosepicker I: Why Pick on Me (The Broad Gave Me My Face But I Can Pick My Own Nose)
Estimate $300,000 - 500,000
Sold for $491,400
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41
Andy Warhol
Living Room
Estimate $250,000 - 450,000
Sold for $315,000
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42
Robert Motherwell
Open No. 25: In Blue with Variations
Estimate $900,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $2,329,000
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43
Luc Tuymans
Absence
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $453,600
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44
Ernie Barnes
Slam Before the Storm
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $604,800
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45
Carmen Herrera
Noche Verde
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $567,000
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46
Anne Truitt
Autumn Dryad
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $567,000
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