Beyond the Signature Cubist Style, a closer tracking of Picasso's Versions K, L and M

My interpretation of Picasso's interpretated Version K

Picasso's continuing exploration of Delacroix's famous Women of Algiers in their Apartment, led to fifteen oil painted canvas interpretations. Not merely copying, Picasso was stealing motifs and transforming the image into his own language. (He is believed to have said, "Good artist's copy, great artists steal") Each translated version was named for the sequential letters of the alphabet. 

His Version’s K, L and M are all monochromatic cubist designs. Cubism is the most recognizable style of Picasso at the height of his powers. These works excited the public and once they hit the market, post Ganz family collection, they held a range in value between 7 and 13 million dollars individually. I love the asterisk-like armpit hairs in the reclining figure. It certainly dates the work.

Versions K and M are in private collections. 

My copy of Version L

Version L, a solitary seated woman, was bought by Berlin’s Museum Berrgruen for over 11 million in 2011 at auction. The catalogue said, “She is the Goddess Astarte enthroned in her temple, seated en majeste, but also sphinx-like, inscrutable, a mythic image of sexually powerful and fertile womanhood brought forward from the distant past, to be approached with deference and awe”.

My interpretation of Picasso's Version M

Version M was painted the day Picasso heard his wife Olga, whom he had been estranged from, yet refused to divorce for decades (because he was Catholic), had died. It is in monochromatic tones of umber. There are no facial features. Picasso has simplified the figures to outlines of geometric shapes piled together like a child's play blocks. The precarious balance of parts makes the space one you would only enter at your own peril. The inviting odalisque trope is gone. These "women" inhabit their chamber and warn the trespasser of freshly mined territory. This painting was last seen when it sold for $10 million to a private collector in 1997. For Picasso, freshly widowed and recently broken up, this version signaled the near end of the series. Only two more explosions follow.

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