Picasso has given this woman a curious, bird-like face which is difficult to take entirely seriously, and there is more than a suspicion of a dig at haute couture in the masterly reduction of the sitter's person and dress to a few simple components. The good humour of the painting is all the more remarkable in that Picasso was going through what he later called 'the worst period of my life'. His wife Olga had finally left him, messy divorce proceedings seemed imminent, and his emotional life was in confusion.
The extremity of his distress was shown by the fact that, at 53, the ever-prolific Picasso found himself unable to paint, a condition that lasted for about nine months (May 1935 to February 1936). But his compulsive creativity was not to be denied, and during this difficult time Picasso began to write poetry that has since become widely admired for its Surrealist vein.
