Head of a Young Girl

Delicate and mysterious, this portrait reveals the poetic sensibility for which Marie Laurencin's work is best known. The lines and textures are drawn so softly that the unknown woman appears almost as a vision.

Laurencin trained early as a decorator of Sèvres porcelain and later studied art at the Académie Humbert in Paris. In 1907 she met Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and became part of the closely knit Cubist circle of artists and writers. After the death of her lover, the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), she went on to design costumes and sets for the Ballets Russes, publish her poetry, illustrate books and work as a portrait painter.