Carnal passion, ancient myths and creative act, the "Vollard Suite" explores the most personal themes of Picasso. This set of 100 etchings of genius of the 20th century called "Suite Vollard" always excites the market.

Ambroise Vollard

Between 1932 and 1937, Picasso created at the request of Ambroise Vollard a series of 100 engravings. Ambroise Vollard's what great art dealer, started from scratch, which revealed little unknown artists such as Gauguin, Matisse, Derain, Van Gogh and Cézanne. It encourages artists to the forefront to engrave. For him, it is a way to acquire cheaply works by artists in which he believes in.

Minotaure aveugle guidé par Marie-Thérèse au pigeon dans une nuit étoilée, 1934, vendu 121 930 € en 2014 chez Sotheby’s. courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Picasso, the greatest engraver of the 20th century

In these engravings Picasso expresses freely and intimately, experimenting with various techniques. The line is intuitive and expressive. The whole staff is not very narrative. It reflects the artistic and erotic obsessions of the artist. The figure of the Minotaur appears for the first time. Dangerous, cruel but so human, the artist chose him as artistic incarnation. It is represented on the side of Marie-Thérèse Walter, his young mistress model, in scenes of sometimes intense eroticism. The ancient sacrifices, modern bullfighting, the creative act carnal love, that's all that transgress poetry rite that expresses Picasso. With this fascinating result, Picasso left its mark in the history of printmaking such as Goya and Rembrandt to which it pays homage.

La femme qui pleure, I , 1937, vendu 5 122 500 dollars chez Christie’s en 2015. Courtesy of Christie’s

The Vollard suite in ideas

Printed in some 310 copies, the full suite unleashed passions in the market. Very rare, it may exceed £3 million. Isolated copies are relatively common on the market, but can sell from a few thousand to over £100,000. The Most? Those involving the Minotaur and mistress of Picasso in lascivious exchanges inexhaustible poetry. Note that Picasso executed other engravings that this suite that are just as popular. In 2015, The Weeping Woman exceeds $ 5 million. A record for a print! Many late reproductions and fake Picasso prints circulating in the market and require a trained eye to detect.

Anaïs Couteau

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Hache Expertise d'Art, specialised in Art insurance: www.hache-expertise.com