Series 347
The collection is Picasso's own tribute to the lusty pleasures of Eros: a superb affirmation of sexuality as the renascent force in life and in art. As Picasso has often patterned his most provocative images after real-life lovers, it is the image of his second wife, Jacqueline Roque, who is pictured so often in this series. The engravings are uniquely Picasso, in their dazzling variety and awesome technical skill; and Picasso at his wittiest, most personal, and most flamboyant. . Picasso began the series shortly after the death of his companion and friend Jaime Sabartés, and dedicated a set of proofs in his memory. Between March and early October 1968 Picasso created 347 etchings and aquatints (some days completing two or three plates), in collaboration with the printers Aldo and Piero Crommelynck at Mougins. Late in 1968 and 1969 the Galerie Louise Leiris exhibited and published them. All of the works were published without titles because Picasso saw it as unnecessary.