Created in 1949, Figure au corsage rayé depicts Picasso’s partner at the time, the painter Françoise Gilot, gazing directly at the viewer. Gilot’s stare is made arresting through her wide eyes and bold brows, rendered in stark black ink which stands out against rich layers of colour. Bright red adds depth and texture to Gilot’s hair, strikingly contrasting with the soft green of her skin, while lemon yellow highlights her face, neck and striped shirt.
This elaborate composition was made at the pinnacle of Picasso’s lithographic production. From late 1945, Picasso frequented Fernand Mourlot’s studio in Paris, collaborating with master printmakers and developing a fascination with the technical possibilities of lithography. Gilot featured as the subject of numerous works during this period. Picasso met Gilot at the beginning of her artistic career and their initial attraction to one another stemmed from a shared intellectual curiosity. Gilot, however, resisted being identified by name in the titles of Picasso’s portraits, rejecting the framing of their relationship simply as that of artist and muse. Figure au corsage rayé is therefore simultaneously distinctive in its chromatic complexity and emblematic of Picasso’s experimentation with lithography and representations of Gilot.