Pablo Picasso

© Cecil Beaton Archive / Condé Nast

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Pablo Picasso

by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, 1944
7 3/8 in. x 7 1/2 in. (188 mm x 190 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x40329

Sitterback to top

  • Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Artist. Sitter in 11 portraits, Artist or producer of 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

  • Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Photographer, designer and writer. Artist or producer associated with 1113 portraits, Sitter associated with 360 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Although taken eleven years after their initial meeting, Beaton remarked how Picasso ‘was as pleased to see me as if I had been a close friend’. Despite the constant flow of visitors to Picasso’s Paris apartment, Beaton was able to photograph Picasso alone in various rooms. In this portrait, Picasso poses unusually in the intimate setting of his bathroom while fully clothed in a formal suit, and appears relatively composed when contrasted with the more playful persona he adopted in later photographs.

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1944back to top

Current affairs

London is hit by the V1 Flying Bomb. This weapon, developed by the German Luftwaffe and colloquially known as the 'Buzz Bomb', or 'Doodlebug', was the first guided missile and was used for attacks on targets in England and Belgium.

Art and science

Laurence Olivier's epic film version of Henry V is released. Olivier directed and starred in the film, which was partly funded by the British government in recognition of its morale-boosting patriotic appeal. The cast included service men as Henry's army.

International

France is liberated from German-occupation following the Battle for Normandy. Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied-France led by Field Marshall Montgomery, was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million soldiers crossing the channel from England to France. Troops landed on the 6th June (D-Day), and Paris was liberated in late August.

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