La nymphe au soleil couchant by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso
1881–1973 | Spanish

La nymphe au soleil couchant
(The Nymph at Sunset)

Signed ‘Picasso’ (lower centre) and dated ‘6.5.58’ (upper left)
Gouache, pen and wash and India ink on paper

La nymphe au soleil couchant belongs to the profoundly personal body of work Picasso created during the final decades of his life, a period shaped by his enduring relationship with Jacqueline Roque. The composition transforms Jacqueline by merging portraiture, poetry and symbolism into a single, intimate meditation on love. Works from this period are widely regarded as among the most emotionally direct expressions of Picasso’s career.

Rendered in bold black ink and layered washes of muted blue, gray and warm ochre, Jacqueline’s profile emerges in dramatic contrast against the ground. Her gaze is alert and inward, framed by a floral and stellar crown that elevates her from muse to allegory. Picasso’s fluid line moves with unrestrained confidence, while handwritten text flows across the surface, integrating word and image into a unified visual language. Captivated by her regal presence, Picasso sought to depict Jacqueline from every possible angle. Here, Picasso has transcribed a moving, 16th-century love poem by Luis de Góngora, transforming Jacqueline into the mesmerizing nymph with a garland of flowers and stars:

At sunset the nymph that I adore picked her flowers in the verdant meadow
She did away with her right hand sometimes her foot too - as it appeared.
The breeze that blew made the fine gold of her hair ripple
Whose soft course/mass much like the green leaf of the grand poplar tree rustles in the red light of the air/dawn
For when she had encircled her beautiful temples with all the remains of her floral dress
(A solar essence on the verge between gold and snow)
More brilliant - I swear did her garland appear despite being made of flowers
And the other stars than the nine luminaries that shine brightly in the sky

Jacqueline Roque entered Picasso’s life in 1952 at the Madoura ceramic studio in Vallauris and quickly became the central figure of his later work. Over the course of their relationship, Picasso depicted her more than 400 times, more than any other individual in his oeuvre. Art historian and biographer John Richardson described this period as Picasso’s “Era of Jacqueline,” noting her role as both emotional anchor and creative catalyst during a time of renewed intensity and invention in the artist’s practice.

Works from the Era of Jacqueline are represented in the world’s leading museum collections, including the Musée National Picasso-Paris, Museu Picasso Barcelona, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Comparable works on paper from this period are rarely available outside institutional collections.

The Comité Picasso has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Dated May 6, 1958

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Paper: 14 3/4" high x 10 3/4" wide (37.5 x 27.3 cm)
Frame: 23 1/2" high x 19" wide x 3" deep (59.7 x 48.2 x 7.6 cm)

Provenance:
Maurice Loncle, Paris
Mme C., probably by descent from the above
Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22 November 1977, lot 69
Galerie Berggruen, Paris, circa 1978
Galleria Gustavo Mazzola, Milan
Private Collection, Europe, acquired from the above in 1978
Private Collection, Europe, by descent from the above
Private Collection, acquired from the above
M.S. Rau, New Orleans