Painted in 1934, Le Lecture of Marie-Thérèse Walter has been announced as the “star lot” of a Sotheby’s auction in London next month.  The painting is a portrait by Pablo Picasso of his mistress and muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter. The portraits done by Picasso of Marie-Thérèse Walter from that same year have become famous in 2006, when Las Vegas Casino owner Steve Wynn put his elbow through the Dream oil painting, a portrait of the same Marie-Thérèse, creating a six inch tear just as he was about to sell the painting for $139 million to an anonymous buyer from Wall Street’s financial district. This would have made tycoon Steven Wynn the owner of the most expensive painting, ever.

Yet Wynn took the tear as a sign to not sell the painting, which was repaired and a new value was quoted for the painting — $85 million. Currently, Le Lecture of Marie-Thérèse Walter is estimated to go for $12-17 million. Helen Newman, Shotheby’s chair of impressionist and modern art, remarked that the painting “will excite a lot of interest” inside of its market.

Picasso’s mistress and muse was a secret affair depicted in the background of many of his past works. Marie-Thérèse Walter once stated:

“He simply took me by the arm and said: “I am Picasso! You and I are going to do great things together.”

Picasso met Walter in 1927 as she was stepping off a train. The girl was only seventeen at the time, and the artist was aged forty-five years. She was kept to the background of his works, until the 1934 La Lecture in which he depicts her intimately asleep with a book resting in her lap. Many scholars suggest this is a sexual symbol.

Six other Picasso works will be featured in the auction, which will also include works by master artists Renoir, Manet, Signac, and Monet. If you can’t make it London next month, be sure to get your own hand painted reproduction of The Dream at overstockArt.com.

On Wednesday, January 19th Google celebrated the birthday of the famous French painter, Paul Cezanne. Cezanne is connected with the members of post Impressionism. Deeply influenced by the Impressionist painters of his time, Cezanne’s work is described as heavy, somber and violent yet visually romantic at times.

This is not the first time that Google celebrates a famous artist birthday. On the contrary, they have done a great job covering birthdays of great artists paying homage to the masters and their creativity. Here is a list of famous artist tribute Google logos:

According to research issued today by the popular online art gallery, overstockArt.com, Pablo Picasso’s Facebook® fan page was the most “liked” artist page in 2010. The list is a compilation of the top 10 most popular classic artist fan pages from 2010.

The top 10 artist fan pages on Facebook are:

1. Pablo Picasso – 4,754 fans
2. Vincent Van Gogh – 1,604 fans
3. Salvador Dali – 1,024 fans
4. Claude Monet – 940 fans
5. Pierre Auguste Renoir – 818 fans
6. Amedeo Modigliani – 714 fans
7. Edgar Degas – 704 fans
8. Paul Cezanne – 670 fans
9. Frida Kahlo – 655 fans
10. Wassily Kandinsky – 602 fans

“Facebook is a wonderful tool to use to engage with consumers, and is also an effective tool for keeping an eye on consumer trends and practices,” said David Sasson, founder and CEO of overstockArt.com. “By monitoring artist fan pages on Facebook and determining which ones are most popular we are provided a great indicator to what is hip and the most desirable art on the market, which helps us identify some of the best selling oil paintings we want to be sure to offer to our customers.”

Porn. Porn. Porn. Porn. Do I have your attention, yet? There is a taboo about nudity in human society, particularly in western civilization, and it is often centered on the female body. The nude is the most physical and visible, “naked” aspect of self. The nude is tangible. Throughout art history, onto the female nude western society has projected its fears, hopes, and desires. They say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Consider the fertility symbolism portrayed in ancient statues (The Venus of Willendorf)—a body with no head, but large breasts, belly, and swollen ankles. We, the general public, don’t place as much speculation on the artist’s intention for these ancient works since “artist” was not yet the mysterious profession that it has become. To place value on a subject renders the inanimate to be animate, and the value we place on the evolution of the female nude in art reflects our own evolution as a society. Women are the givers of life, rendered as mothers, lovers, whores, friends, and goddesses. The female nude in art is different subject matter we think, however, based on how she is rendered and who she is rendered by. Yet, it depends gravely upon the perceptions we make, which thereby inform our culture.

Painters on the Female Nude

The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning… The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.” – Henri Matisse

A nude which has little if any affiliation with exhibitionism, which expresses warmth and confidence and an actual story, which has little or nothing to do with contemporary angst or submissiveness or abuse or domination, would best be described as a “who” and not a “which” or “what.” Sad to say that such a wondrous nude is today rarely visible, or even recognized, in the realm of the arts.” – Bernard Poulin

Botticelli and Perfection

Botticelli considered Simonetta Vespucci to be the perfect female representation of Venus, and perhaps the perfect emblem of beauty. Many painters rendered Simonetta’s beauty, yet it’s The Birth of Venus that western society most recalls. Painted in 1485, The Birth of Venus (or, Primavera) depicts the birth of the goddess Venus from the sea. The Graces adorn her with flowers. She isn’t what many would say “too skinny,” but her proportions are considered to be anatomically improbable. Her neck is elongated, and though she stands in a classical contrapposto stance, her body weight is shifted too far onto her left leg for the pose to be realistically held. The female nude is a goddess. These are the facts, but what perceptions are absorbed into culture? If the viewer wants to move from pagan depiction to a monotheistic interpretation, you might think that Venus is Eve right before the fall of humanity into sin. At least this would be a Platonic idea, as Venus had two aspects–the goddess who aroused mortals into physical love and also spiritual love. The contemplation of the physical leads to contemplation of the spiritual.

Munch and Fear

Edvard Munch attributed a vorpal fear and awe to the female, whether she donned clothing or not. Munch “put a lot of himself” into his artwork. Many say that he “hated” women, but his mother died when he was very young and his sister was diagnosed with a mental illness, which ran in the family. Munch often said that insanity and death stalked him.

Woman in Three Stages was completed by Edvard Munch in 1894.

Woman at one and the same time is a saint, a whore, and an unhappy person abandoned.” – Edvard Munch

To be fair, even the men that Munch rendered are not realistic and are troubled.

The Stigma on Modigliani’s Female Nudes

Completed in 1916, The Female Nude is a rare piece in Modigliani nude works. The figure, as his others, is mostly naturalistic, yet nearly all of his works feature his nudes reclining or resting. This piece is situated among his lovers and friends, and not among the nude series that exhibited in what was to be his only solo exhibition. The nudes caused a scandal. One nude was leered at by a crowed of onlookers, and the police chief ordered the nudes to be dismantled and relocated. Amadeo Modigliani didn’t seem to have any unusual qualms with women for his time, and Modigliani remains famous for his nudes, of all things.

What Nude Means for “The Female”

It’s time for the naked truth, which is whatever we perceive it to be. What concerns western civilization and the evolution of the female nude in art history is the infiltration of mispurposed “value.”  Too skinny. Too fat. Too much skin. Porn. Porn. Porn. Porn. Mother. Goddess. Whore.

What about Woman? …and is this question as restrictive? In the evolution of art history into postmodernism, what do we behold and how will that shape our civilization?

John Cleese and the Monty Python gang in a really funny sketch simulating a bicycle race to fame between the great modern artists of the 20th century. As everyone pass through Pablo Picasso, probably the greatest 20th Century Artist, seems to be missing…

So, where is Picasso? Well it turns out that Picasso fell off the bike… But don’t worry he is not hurt, however the pig has a slight headache…

Pablo Picasso the great, the Michelangelo of the 20th century, the raging bull of modern art is exhibiting in Seattle.

The Seattle Art Museum, is host to a comprehensive exhibit of the modern master, artist Pablo Picasso. These are Picasso’s private stash of art pieces that he did not intend to reveal or sell. In today’s art market, the value of this artwork is nearly incalculable. And you need to take yourself, family or friends to see this show, because, unless you travel to Paris any time soon, you won’t get another chance.

Picasso’s enormous collection was “given,” in lieu of inheritance taxes, to the French government, who quickly outfitted a large, handsome but derelict hotel in Paris with the enormous collection. Right now, the museum is closed for two years of renovation. Vive l’opportunite!

With all the intrigue of a modern espionage novel, the curators of the Seattle Art Museum where able to somehow finagle Paris into loaning its collection to Seattle through Jan. 17.

Picasso burst on the Paris scene like a burst of talent, the art world had not seen before. To say that Picasso was a precocious talent at age 19 is an understatement. He could already paint and draw like a master.

And paint he did. The collection is an undeniable display of all the glamor, brilliance and command of the many media that Picasso thrust upon an evolving 20th century art world, a world already reeling from the impact of Impressionism and Post Impressionism and the first extraordinary artworks by modern painters from Claude Monet to Vincent Van Gogh.

Picasso fathered the next giant steps that led to the modern-day transformation from painting as representation, to, well … be my guest in defining this potpourri of expression.

Most of his paintings stun a vibrant imagination. Two Women Running on the Beach, The Village Dance, Cat Catching a Bird, sketches from Guernica, playful and provocative sculpture – all this work is displayed with deep passion, eroticism, and of course, all the creativity of an artist who might be defined as the raging bull of modern art.

At the beginning of the exhibit, one is confronted by a life-size photograph, a self-portrait of the artist as a young man, around age 24, standing resolutely with two deep-set black eyes blazing, almost challenging, muscles hard and taut, and with a pose that suggests an ego beyond Picasso’s cool and calculating confidence, of which he is generally accused of exhibiting by the boatload. He seems to suggest in a prescient sort way that, yes, he is going to become an artist of unsurpassed depth and imagination. His black and white drawings suggest a master on terms with Rembrandt or Picasso’s fellow Spaniard, Goya. Certainly, Picasso does not surpass either. But to be held on a par with such genius and talent speaks volumes, and Picasso did speak volumes. This quotation is a favorite: “God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on creating other things.”

His bigger than life nature, like his artwork, must have remained irresistible, just as this show is irresistible. In the sketches and studies of Guernica (the original remains in Madrid), rage and indignity confront us with all the power of a full-force Blitzkrieg.

In a strange way, it doesn’t matter if you like abstract painting or not. Picasso is the giant of expressionism and the creator of many emerging art styles. He was always ahead of the pack, bursting from the starting gate like Secretariat or Sea Biscuit. It can hardly be denied. You may dismiss his style, but must not reject the talent.