Francis Picabia. "M'Amenez-y". Paris, November 1919 - January 1920

Francis Picabia "M'Amenez-y" Paris, November 1919 - January 1920

  • MoMA, Floor 5, 508 The David Geffen Wing

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.

Gallery label from 2011.
Medium
Oil and enamel paint on cardboard
Dimensions
50 3/4 x 35 3/8" (129.2 x 89.8 cm)
Credit
Helena Rubinstein Fund
Object number
1309.1968
Copyright
© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Francis Picabia, Paris.

Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia (the painter's wife).

1930s - 1966, Jean (Hans) Arp (1886-1966), acquired by exchange with Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia.

1966 - 1968, Estate of Jean Arp / Marguerite Hagenbach Arp (Jean Arp's widow), Clamart, France, and Locarno-Solduno, Switzerland, inherited from Jean Arp.

1968, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchased from Madame Jean Arp.

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