"M'Amenez-y"
Francis Picabia. "M'Amenez-y". 1919-20. Oil on cardboard, 50 3/4 x 35 3/8" (129.2 x 89.8 cm). Helena Rubinstein Fund. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Francis Picabia. "M'Amenez-y". 1919-20. Oil on cardboard, 50 3/4 x 35 3/8" (129.2 x 89.8 cm). Helena Rubinstein Fund. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
This work delivers a barrage of puns, transforming the language of fine art into one far less refined. The inscription at the top, Portrait a l’huile de Ricin! (Portrait with castor oil), connects castor oil, a foul-smelling substance, with l’huile de lin (linseed oil), the binder used in oil paint. Another inscription reads Ratelier d’artiste (False teeth of the artist), a play on atelier d’artiste (artist’s studio). Peinture crocodile (Crocodile painting) associates art with the hypocrisy of crocodile tears.