PICASSO, Pablo (1881-1973)

PICASSO, Pablo (1881-1973)

Autograph letter signed « Picasso » to Max Pellequer
[Château de] Vauvenargues, “14.[0]4.[19]61”, 1 p. 1/4 in-4°
Usual fold mark, otherwise fine condition throughout
Watermark: “André Chotel Paris – A.M.C”

In the company of Jacqueline, whom he had just married, Picasso settles in their second home at the Château de Vauvenargues for a few days

« Mon cher Max,
Nous sommes depuis hier ici pour quelques jours.
Je vous envoie le chèque que vous me demandez pour ces messieurs des contributions et un autre chèque pour la B.N.C.I [Banque nationale pour le commerce et l’industrie, une des banques ancêtres du groupe BNP Paribas] de Cannes [,] montant de mon coffre ici.
Meilleurs souvenir[s] et amitiés de nous deux
Je vous embrasse
Picasso »

[Jacqueline adds an autographe line in the lower margin of the second page]
« Je vous embrasse très fort
Jacqueline »

A banker and shrewd art lover, Max Pellequer amassed a considerable collection of modernist works in the 1920s. In 1920, he married Francine Level, niece of the merchant and businessman André Level. It was through him that he met Picasso in 1914. This meeting marked the genesis of an unbreakable friendship between the two men. Pellequer became one of the artist’s closest friends, but also his banker and financial advisor. For more than 30 years, he acquired an incredible collection of paintings and sculptures from Picasso. The epistolary relationship they maintained allows us to take the measure of the ties that united them.

At the time of writing this letter, Pablo Picasso had just married Jacqueline (born Roque) on March 2, 1961, in Vallauris. Their main residence was at the Mas Notre-Dame-de-Vie de Mougins, in Mougins, near Cannes. The Château de Vauvenargues had become their second home after Picasso acquired it in September 1958. It was in the park of this same property that the painter was buried in a noxious atmosphere, on April 10, 1973.