Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Dora Maar Seated, 1937, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 65 cm.

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Dora Maar on Centaur 3

This drawing combines Picasso’s painting "Portrait of Dora Maar Seated" (1937) with a 2D plan version of The Centaur form.

All but one of the 8 pieces of The Centaur form in this drawing are based upon the approach of the previous drawing (Dora Maar on Centaur 2) – that is, Dora Maar is used as a reference for visual equivalents. For example, the piece on the top and right of this drawing use the Dora Maar ‘flowers’ as the basis for The Centaur ‘legs’.

The one piece that is inconsistent with this approach is the ‘head’ of the 3D centaur form. This form in the centre of this drawing and the 2D configuration incorporates the ‘head’ of Dora Maar and the ‘hand’ stretching up to the ‘head’ – consistent with Picasso’s painting. Likewise, the extended ‘arm’ of The Centaur is reflected in the top of the ‘armchair’ in which Dora Maar is sitting. (This is consistent with Dora Maar on Centaur)

This approach of using a different focus for the upper torso and the other pieces was used in a range of later images.