NC Museum of Art’s first Picasso painting depicts his longtime lover

The North Carolina Museum of Art recently unveiled five new modernist works of art, including the museum’s first Pablo Picasso piece.

“Seated Woman, Red and Yellow Background,” is a portrait of French artist Francoise Gilot, Picasso’s muse, lover and the mother of two of his children.

The five pieces were donated by Josie and Julian Robertson and significantly grow and strengthen the museum’s modern art holdings, according to a news release.

“We are grateful to the Robertson family for giving their treasured artworks to the NCMA to share with North Carolinians and all our visitors for generations to come,” museum director Valerie Hillings said in the release.

Picasso is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and “an active, dominant force in the development and innovation of modern art.”

The donated piece was painted in 1952, toward the end of his relationship with Gilot.

“Picasso translates this emotional tension through cubist techniques by severing Gilot’s body into fragmented forms and composing her face from contradictory halves,” according to the news release. “The portrait is striking in its sculptural composition.”

The painting is on view now in the 20th Century galleries in the museum’s West building.

More about the other pieces of donated artwork:

Alfred Sisley: Sisley is a founding member of the impressionists and produced hundreds of varied landscapes of the countryside and small villages of France. “The Bridge at Moret on an April Morning,” is one of these, showing the town of Moret from across the river Loing.

Maurice de Vlaminck: This artist is known as one of the creators of fauvism, a style known for its bold colors and textured brushwork. “The Bridge at Poissy’‘ shows a destroyed bridge across the river Seine in the town of Poissy.

Emil Nolde: Nolde is known for his “intense emotion of his radically simplified, vivid pictures.” After experiencing a powerful storm on a small fishing boat the artist spent decades exploring the sea. “Fishing Boat (Red Sky) recounts that experience.

Kees van Dongen: This artist is known for his portraits of singers, sex workers and celebrities using a Fauvist style. “Reclining Nude” most likely depicts a sex worker from Montmartre, using blues, browns, red, whites and acid green instead of conventional flesh tones.

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