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Picasso


Picasso had first made a sketch version of the work as early as 1940 and throughout the decade regularly visited the Louvre specifically to look at Delacroix's canvas. However, like so many of Picasso's variations, the works, including this oil sketch, were only loosely based upon the original. Here Picasso has again distorted the forms of the women seated in the foreground, twisting their bodies into impossible contortions so that front and back views are simultaneously presented to the viewer. The emphasis on the odalisque is also closely related to Picasso's admiration for Henri Matisse, who specialized in the representation of women in such exotic costumes. Matisse's recent death inspired Picasso to engage with this subject.

In 2015, Picasso's The Women of Algiers has set a new world record for the most expensive artwork to be sold at auction after reaching $179m in New York.