Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Paloma Picasso (b.1949) and Claude Picasso (1947 – 2023).
c. 1953
Cut out Citantes cigarette packet and coloured pencil.
A rare and remarkable work by Pablo Picasso and his children, exhibited for the first time.
Made from the humble reverse of a cigarette packet, the work transforms an everyday fragment into an image of remarkable economy and resonance. By this time, Picasso’s dove had come to carry a meaning far beyond that of a simple bird. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the motif became closely associated with his public commitment to a more peaceful future. His celebrated Dove of Peace, created for the First International Peace Congress in Paris in 1949, transformed the familiar image into an international symbol of hope in the aftermath of conflict.
The history of this particular dove gives that symbolism an especially intimate resonance. It was gifted by Picasso and his children to Marie-Claude Michaut, the daughter of Claudine Chomat and Laurent Casanova, a prominent figure of the French Communist Resistance and post-war left.
This politically charged image was also made through one of Picasso’s most personal and instinctive artistic languages, cutting paper. Picasso’s paper works occupy a particularly intimate place within his practice. Rarely made for exhibition or sale, they were often created spontaneously for family and friends. With little more than a pair of scissors and whatever paper lay to hand, Picasso could transform the most ordinary material into something unexpectedly alive. His fascination with cut paper reaches back to his childhood in Málaga. Under the influence of his father, he discovered the possibilities of cutting out silhouettes and moving them across a surface to explore composition.
Decades later, the same impulse remains alive. Here, Picasso returns to the simplest vocabulary of his childhood - paper, scissors and the silhouette of a bird. Now, with his own children, the artist rekindles the instinctive pleasures of his earliest artistic play.
cm x cm
cm x cm (including frame)
Provenance
Personal gift from Pablo Picasso and his children to Marie-Claude Michaut, Claudine Chomat and Laurent Casanova.
Authenticated by the Pablo Picasso Committee on 10th November 2025 and catalogued under reference 0305.
Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), Paloma Picasso (b.1949) and Claude Picasso (1947 – 2023).
c. 1953
Cut out Citantes cigarette packet and coloured pencil.
A rare and remarkable work by Pablo Picasso and his children, exhibited for the first time.
Made from the humble reverse of a cigarette packet, the work transforms an everyday fragment into an image of remarkable economy and resonance. By this time, Picasso’s dove had come to carry a meaning far beyond that of a simple bird. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the motif became closely associated with his public commitment to a more peaceful future. His celebrated Dove of Peace, created for the First International Peace Congress in Paris in 1949, transformed the familiar image into an international symbol of hope in the aftermath of conflict.
The history of this particular dove gives that symbolism an especially intimate resonance. It was gifted by Picasso and his children to Marie-Claude Michaut, the daughter of Claudine Chomat and Laurent Casanova, a prominent figure of the French Communist Resistance and post-war left.
This politically charged image was also made through one of Picasso’s most personal and instinctive artistic languages, cutting paper. Picasso’s paper works occupy a particularly intimate place within his practice. Rarely made for exhibition or sale, they were often created spontaneously for family and friends. With little more than a pair of scissors and whatever paper lay to hand, Picasso could transform the most ordinary material into something unexpectedly alive. His fascination with cut paper reaches back to his childhood in Málaga. Under the influence of his father, he discovered the possibilities of cutting out silhouettes and moving them across a surface to explore composition.
Decades later, the same impulse remains alive. Here, Picasso returns to the simplest vocabulary of his childhood - paper, scissors and the silhouette of a bird. Now, with his own children, the artist rekindles the instinctive pleasures of his earliest artistic play.
cm x cm
cm x cm (including frame)
Provenance
Personal gift from Pablo Picasso and his children to Marie-Claude Michaut, Claudine Chomat and Laurent Casanova.
Authenticated by the Pablo Picasso Committee on 10th November 2025 and catalogued under reference 0305.
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