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Maître Brice Pescheteau-Badin
70
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Alberto SAVINIO (1891-1952) Untitled (portrait of a seated w…
See original version (French)
70
-
Alberto SAVINIO (1891-1952) Untitled (portrait of a seated w…
See original version (French)
Estimate €30,000 - €50,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Alberto SAVINIO (1891-1952)
Untitled (portrait of a seated woman in a flowery dress), circa 1927 - 1928
Oil on canvas, signed lower right
60 x 81 cm.
Provenance :
- Private collection, Seine et Marne
- By descent to the current owners
A certificate of inclusion in the Alberto Savinio archives, dated 20 February 2026, will be given to the buyer.
Born Andrea de Chirico in Athens in 1891, Alberto Savinio adopted his pseudonym during his early years in Paris. His work was not confined to painting: he wrote, composed, worked for the theatre and approached images with a freedom nourished by these different registers. Returning to Paris in 1926, he gave painting a new place and held his first solo exhibition the following year at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery, with a presentation by Jean Cocteau.
In this portrait, this freedom is apparent in the very construction of the scene. Savinio places a woman seated in the foreground, on an armchair that looks more like it belongs in an interior than on a terrace. This piece of furniture, with its rounded back and domestic appearance, creates an initial discrepancy. It doesn't simply appear to be placed outside: it gives the figure an almost settled position, as if she were standing in front of a set.
The background is treated in a very narrow range, dominated by greys, browns and light tones. Yet it is not secondary. The water, the relief and the heavy sky make up a strange landscape that is difficult to identify. Are we on the banks of a lake, in front of a painted set, on a theatre stage?
Colour is concentrated in the foreground: the blue of the dress, the floral motifs that enliven it, the bracelets, and the deeper tones of the armchair. The model stands out in contrast to this almost monochrome landscape. But there is nothing perfectly tranquil about this presence. The face, turned towards the viewer, maintains a restrained expression; the gaze seems slightly worried, as if at odds with the seated pose and the apparent calm of the scene.
This discreet concern is matched by the strangeness of the setting. The dark sky does not transform the landscape into an open threat, but it does prevent the work from being read as a simple plein air portrait. Everything seems at once poised and unstable: the woman, the indoor armchair, the terrace, the almost theatrical background. Savinio thus constructs an image that retains the form of a portrait, but shifts it towards a more ambiguous situation, between real presence and staging.
See original version (French)
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