Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

Pablo Picasso completed this Nude, Green Leaves and Bust in a single day on March 8, 1932, at his Château de Boisgeloup studios in Normandy. The canvas presents his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter reclining beside a sculptural bust and a lush philodendron plant. Vibrant lilacs and deep blues contrast with vivid greens, creating a dreamlike, hallucinatory effect.

The painting belongs to an extraordinary sequence of large nudes created at Boisgeloup in early 1932, regarded as among Picasso's greatest achievements between the wars. The composition synthesizes Cubist fragmentation with Surrealist distortion, presenting Marie-Thérèse through multiple viewpoints. The sculptural bust suggests his concurrent work in three dimensions.

Los Angeles collectors Sidney and Frances Brody purchased the canvas in 1952 for $17,000. It rarely appeared in publications and remained largely unknown until Christie's sold it in May 2010 for $106.5 million, setting the world auction record at that time.