Picabia’s “Transparences”, From the Ephemeral to the Immutable

Published on 01 March 2024, by Caroline Legrand

Auction on 14 March 2024 - 14:00 (CET) - 4, rue Urbain-Vitry - 31000 Toulouse

Harmas, which has been in the same collection for almost 100 years, plays on references and superimpositions. This image of an imaginary world is emblematic of Francis Picabia’s “Transparences”, a period that lasted only a few years.

Francis Picabia (1879-1953), Harmas, c. 1928, mixed media on cardboard, signed, 106... Picabia’s “Transparences”, From the Ephemeral to the Immutable

Francis Picabia (1879-1953), Harmas, c. 1928, mixed media on cardboard, signed, 106 x 75.5 cm/41.73 x 29.72 in. Estimate: €300,000/400,000

Francis Picabia enjoyed using enigmatic names such as "harma", a species of butterfly known in English as the "angular glider", for his “Transparences”. His bookcase had a pocket-sized field guide to the butterflies of France, Switzerland and Belgium written by Paul Girod in 1912 that he picked and chose from to his heart’s delight. But in the language of Provence,…

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