The Dream (La Reve)

A woman dozes contentedly in a red armchair, her head tipped back, her face and body composed of soft, curving, sensuous forms in glowing color, the doubling of her features faintly erotic. The sitter is Marie-Therese Walter, and Picasso is said to have painted the Dream in a single afternoon. Now in a private collection after one of the highest prices ever paid for a painting, it is among the most beloved of his Marie-Therese pictures - tender, serene, and frankly sensual, the sleeping muse transformed into pure flowing line and radiant, dreamlike color.