Skip to main content
Washington University in St. Louis
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Create an account to add artworks to your personal collections.

Enter your email address below to recieve an email to reset your password.

An email has been sent to your inbox to reset your password.

image alt

Pablo Picasso

Les femmes d'Alger (Women of Algiers), Variation N

1955

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 4

image alt
1 / 1

Painted in the post-World War II period, Pablo Picasso's Les femmes d’Alger employs the revolutionary Cubist pictorial language that established him as a leader of the avant-garde in the 1910s. This work is the second to last in a series of fifteen variations based on two works by the French nineteenth-century painter Eugene Delacroix, both titled Les femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement (Women of Algiers in Their Apartment), from 1834 and 1848. Delacroix's paintings portray three nude or partially dressed women sleeping, smoking, and reclining while a female servant in the background carries a teapot. Picasso's work recasts the seductive, eroticized female figures of Delacroix's Orientalist painting in the flattened, angular forms and compact, discontinuous spaces of Cubism. Here Delacroix's scene of imagined sexual invitation and passive femininity becomes one of female self-possession and confidence. [Permanent collection label, 2019]

  • Artist Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
  • Title Les femmes d'Alger (Women of Algiers), Variation N
  • Date 1955
  • Medium Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions unframed | 45 x 57 5/8 in.
  • Credit line University purchase, Steinberg Fund, 1960
  • Copyright © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Object number WU 3898
  • Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 4

The Body in Pieces
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 02/16/2024 - 04/15/2024

Pablo Picasso and Les Femmes d’Alger
Museum Berggruen, 05/07/2021 - 08/30/2021

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Women: Picasso, Beckmann, de Kooning
Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich, Germany), 03/30/2012 - 07/15/2012

Picasso et les Maîtres
Musée du Louvre (Paris, France), 09/29/2008 - 02/02/2009

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas), 08/17/2004 - 10/24/2004

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/30/2002 - 12/08/2002
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, New York), 03/12/2002 - 04/06/2002

Picasso Las Grandes Series y Los Maestoros del Pasado (1953–1973)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain), 03/28/2001 - 06/18/2001

Affinity of Form: African and Modern European Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/27/1999 - 10/24/1999

Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry
Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), 01/31/1999 - 05/02/1999

Cubism and Abstraction
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/12/1998 - 04/05/1998

Picasso und seine Sammlung (Pablo Picasso and His Personal Collection)
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung (Munich, Germany), 04/29/1998 - 08/16/1998

Abstract Expressionism: American Art in the 1950s and 1960s
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/17/1997 - 04/06/1997

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

Picasso: Die Zeit nach Guernica 1937–1973
Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany), 06/18/1993 - 08/29/1993
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung (Munich, Germany), 03/12/1993 - 06/06/1993
Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin, Germany), 12/11/1992 - 02/21/1993

Capsule of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/1983 - 03/06/1983

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures

Picasso: Two Concurrent Retrospective Exhibtions
Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, Texas), 02/08/1967 - 03/26/1967

Picasso Exhibition
Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, Texas), 01/23/1967 - 03/26/1967

Picasso: An American Tribute
Cordier-Warren Gallery (New York, New York), 04/25/1962 - 05/12/1962

Picasso: 75th Anniversary
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 05/22/1957 - 09/08/1957
Art Institute of Chicago, 10/29/1957 - 12/08/1957

Picasso: Peintures, 1900–1955
Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris, France), 06/01/1955 - 10/01/1955

Pablo Picasso
Galerie Louise Leiris (Paris, France)

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art 2002

1960
Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York

Inscription [UR:] Picasso [Verso ULC in black paint:] 13•2•55 [below the first 5 in a lighter hand:] K

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to Empire and Settler Colonialism page
1992_21.tif
Theme

Empire and Settler Colonialism

go to Affinity of Form: African and Modern European Art page
no image
Exhibitions

Affinity of Form: African and Modern European Art

August 27, 1999–October 24, 1999
go to Capsule of Modern Art page
no image
Exhibitions

Capsule of Modern Art

January 09, 1983–March 06, 1983
go to Cubism and Abstraction page
no image
Exhibitions

Cubism and Abstraction

January 12, 1998–April 05, 1998
go to Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures page
no image
Exhibitions

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures

September 20, 1980–November 02, 1980
go to Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists page
no image
Exhibitions

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists

May 15, 1983–September 04, 1983
go to Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry page
no image
Exhibitions

Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry

January 31, 1999–May 02, 1999
go to H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis page
no image
Exhibitions

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis

March 12, 2002–December 08, 2002
go to Pablo Picasso page
no image
Exhibitions

Pablo Picasso

go to Picasso und seine Sammlung (Pablo Picasso and His Personal Collection) page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso und seine Sammlung (Pablo Picasso and His Personal Collection)

April 29, 1998–August 16, 1998
go to Picasso: 75th Anniversary page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso: 75th Anniversary

May 22, 1957–December 08, 1957
go to Picasso: An American Tribute page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso: An American Tribute

April 25, 1962–May 12, 1962
go to Picasso: Die Zeit nach Guernica 1937–1973 page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso: Die Zeit nach Guernica 1937–1973

December 11, 1992–August 29, 1993
go to Picasso Exhibition page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso Exhibition

January 23, 1967–March 26, 1967
go to Picasso Las Grandes Series y Los Maestoros del Pasado (1953–1973) page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso Las Grandes Series y Los Maestoros del Pasado (1953–1973)

March 28, 2001–June 18, 2001
go to Picasso: Peintures, 1900–1955 page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso: Peintures, 1900–1955

June 01, 1955–October 01, 1955
go to Picasso: Two Concurrent Retrospective Exhibtions page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso: Two Concurrent Retrospective Exhibtions

February 08, 1967–March 26, 1967
go to The Centennial Exhibition page
no image
Exhibitions

The Centennial Exhibition

May 15, 1981–October 11, 1981
go to Abstract Expressionism: American Art in the 1950s and 1960s page
no image
Exhibitions

Abstract Expressionism: American Art in the 1950s and 1960s

January 17, 1997–April 06, 1997
go to Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis

August 17, 2004–October 24, 2004
go to A Gallery of Modern Art page
no image
Exhibitions

A Gallery of Modern Art

August 09, 1994–October 16, 1994
go to Picasso et les Maîtres page
no image
Exhibitions

Picasso et les Maîtres

September 29, 2008–February 02, 2009
go to Women: Picasso, Beckmann, de Kooning page
no image
Exhibitions

Women: Picasso, Beckmann, de Kooning

March 30, 2012–July 15, 2012
go to From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968 page
no image
Exhibitions

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968

January 23, 2015–April 19, 2015
go to Pablo Picasso and Les Femmes d’Alger page
no image
Exhibitions

Pablo Picasso and Les Femmes d’Alger

May 07, 2021–August 30, 2021
go to The Body in Pieces page
3806.tif
Exhibitions

The Body in Pieces

February 16, 2024–April 15, 2024

Image Reproduction Request Form

To request image materials and/or permission to reproduce a work of art from the Museum's collection, please complete and submit the form below. The information you provide here will enable us to process your request and assess the appropriate images, permissions, and any applicable fees. 

Typically, image requests that do not require new photography can be completed within three weeks. Whenever possible, rush orders may be accommodated, although additional fees may apply.

If you have questions, please contact Kristin Good, associate registrar, at kristin.good@wustl.edu.

Checking this box constitutes a legal signature. By checking this box, the applicant agrees to abide by all terms and conditions under which permission is granted to reproduce works of art in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and that permission is contingent upon payment of any applicable fees.

* Required fields

test View details