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Girl in a Chemise is the portrait of a girl wearing a white chemise. It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 72.7 cm x 60 cm and is signed and dated Picasso '05' on the lower left corner. The date of the painting remains unclear as Picasso's art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler disputed the date in a letter to the Tate Gallery in 1953. Art historians generally believe that it was begun in 1904 and was signed by Picasso earlier than when it was dated in 1905.The portrait is one of Picasso's earliest paintings upon settling in Paris in 1904. Although the painting is predominantly blue in tone, it belongs in style to his Rose Period. The transition between the two phases is evident in the warm tones of pink and brown that can be seen in the background.The identity of the subject has been a source of discussion. It has been suggested that the girl is a hybrid of several of Picasso's models. Kahnweiler dismissed speculation that the girl was Fernande Olivier, Picasso's partner who was living with him during this period. He said, "Picasso did not know Fernande Olivier when he painted this picture. The model was the woman with whom he was living then, before Fernande Olivier. I do not remember her name and I think it would be of no use mentioning it; Picasso, I am sure, would not like it".John Richardson, Picasso's biographer opined that the woman depicted in the painting was Madeleine, Picasso's former girlfriend. Art historians know little about her, except that she became pregnant and had an abortion. Richardson remarked, "A new face in his work reveals that Picasso had found a new mistress. Madeleine she was called; all we know is that she was a model... she was pretty in a delicate, bird-like way (her nose and forehead formed a straight line). Madeleine's thick hair, loosely drawn back into a chignon, and her boyishly lean body recurs in a number of works done over the next six to nine months – works that mirror the blurring of the Blue into the Rose period". Picasso's relationship with Madeleine overlapped with a new romantic interest in the form of Fernande Olivier, whom he met in August 1904. However, Richardson opined that, "it is Madeleine's skinny beauty that continues to haunt the work – at least until Spring 1905".
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler Rose Period Chemise Tate John Richardson chemise Fernande Olivier