About this artwork
This is one of Picabia's 'Transparency' paintings, in which several different images are layered on top of one another. There are three interpenetrating but distinct layers: the Spanish lady in a lace mantilla depicted in a deliberately kitsch style; an outline drawing of a matador in full costume; and a simplified representation of a Madonna, crowned in the Catalan Romanesque style. The obvious connecting link between all three figures is their Spanishness. Picabia's father was Spanish. The layering of images may be intended to provide the visual equivalent to memory and the stream of consciousness. The combination of apparently opposing styles and themes is typical of Picabia's work.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Francis PicabiaFrench (1879 - 1953)
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title:Sotileza [Subtlety]
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date created:About 1928
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materials:Gouache on paper
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measurements:75.70 x 55.70 cm (framed: 85.50 x 65.50 x 3.20 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by Gabrielle Keiller 1995
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accession number:GMA 4074
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gallery:
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subject:
Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia
French-born Picabia was a highly versatile artist, working in a number of styles throughout his life. He experimented with Impressionism and Cubism, but it was for his work with the New York Dada group that he became most noted. Influenced by his friend Marcel Duchamp and by the enthusiasm for...