Pablo Picasso - Editions & Works on Paper New York Monday, October 24, 2022 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Greek mythology was a source of inspiration for Pablo Picasso throughout his career. In this print, Picasso specifically referenced The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid, a narrative poem that chronicled the history of the world within a loose mythical framework. Danaé was the daughter of King Acrisios, who had been warned by an oracle that his daughter’s son would kill him. Out of fear, Acrisios imprisoned the childless Danaé in a bronze tower. Zeus, however, had become enraptured with the Princess and impregnated Danaé in the form of golden rain. This is the otherworldly moment Picasso chose to depict in his linocut of Danaé. Upon a plush bed, Danaé is rendered in the nude, deconstructed into two halves, and positioned behind a framework of black lines that symbolize the confines of her prison. The result of this union was a son named Perseus, the demigod who slayed the gorgon Medusa and who eventually went on to accidentally kill Acrisios, tragically fulfilling the oracle’s prophecy. The rich colors of this linocut add vibrancy to the ancient myth. 

    • Provenance

      Collection of Nelson A. Rockefeller
      Achim Moeller Ltd., London

    • Literature

      Georges Bloch 1084
      Brigitte Baer 1286

    • 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. 

      View More Works

Property from the Stellenberg Collection, Cape Town

7

Danaé (B. 1084, Ba. 1286)

1962
Linocut in colors, on Arches paper, with full margins.
I. 10 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (27 x 34.9 cm)
S. 17 5/8 x 24 3/4 in. (44.8 x 62.9 cm)

Signed and numbered 26/50 in pencil (there were also 20 artist's proofs), published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1963, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $69,300

Contact Specialist

Editions@phillips.com

212 940 1220

Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 24 - 26 October 2022