Woman with a Fan
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Woman with a Fan is a painting by Pablo Picasso, held in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Picasso painted more than one composition under this title in the years around 1908, so critical descriptions of one version should not be assumed to apply automatically to this specific canvas[1]. The Hermitage's version entered Russia early: it was visible in the collection of the Moscow textile merchant Sergei Shchukin by 1909 or 1910, one of dozens of Picassos Shchukin acquired in the years before the First World War closed the borders to that kind of collecting[2][3]. In general terms, Picasso's paintings of women holding fans from this period show him working through problems of pose, internal balance and monumental, sculptural form, drawing at times on the frontality of seated Egyptian statues, a treatment later writers have connected to the more classicising, monumental figures of his work in the 1920s[1]. Picasso settled permanently in Paris in April 1904, and by the middle of the decade his circle included the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who became his closest early literary advocate[4].
Where it is held
Held at Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Entered the collection of the Moscow textile merchant Sergei Shchukin by 1909 or 1910; nationalised after the Russian Revolution and now held in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
More than one painting shares this title
Picasso painted at least two distinct compositions called Woman with a Fan in this period, and they are not interchangeable: one, first conceived as a portrait of Fernande Olivier, is a compact, reserved image whose monumental proportions and seated pose recall Egyptian statues[1]. A second shows an elegant woman in an audacious hat, holding an open fan in one hand and a folded umbrella in the other, her fixed gaze and mask-like face built from cold, malachite and silvery-grey tones[1]. A further work of the same title, painted the previous year and now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, is a separate canvas again[5]. Any description of Woman with a Fan drawn from a general survey needs to specify which version it is discussing rather than assuming they are the same picture.
Egyptian frontality and the road to Picasso's classical period
Across his fan paintings of this period, Picasso worked through problems of pose and monumental form that writers have traced to seated Egyptian sculpture: a compact, frontal solidity rather than movement or narrative gesture[1]. That formal interest did not stay confined to 1908. Critics have read these fan compositions as an early staging ground for the more overtly classicising, monumental figures Picasso painted in the 1920s, when references to antique statuary became far more explicit across his work[1].
Into a Russian collection before the Revolution
By the time Picasso was working through these compositions, he had settled permanently in Paris, having made his final move there in April 1904 after several earlier, shorter stays[4]. His reputation in these years grew partly through the advocacy of Guillaume Apollinaire, who met him around the end of 1904 and became his most consistent literary champion in print[4]. Collectors abroad moved quickly: the Hermitage's Woman with a Fan had entered Sergei Shchukin's Moscow collection by 1909 or 1910, part of a purchasing spree that eventually brought Shchukin dozens of Picassos alongside major holdings of Matisse, Cezanne and Gauguin, assembled before the First World War and the Russian Revolution closed off that access entirely[2][3].
Common questions
What influenced the pose and form of Picasso's fan paintings?
Writers have connected the frontal, monumental, sculptural quality of these compositions to seated Egyptian statues, a formal interest that critics see continuing into the more explicitly classicising figures of Picasso's 1920s work[1].
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Guillaume Apollinaire, Cubism Used for: this artwork.
- [2] book Beverly Whitney Kean, All the Empty Palaces: The Merchant Patrons of Modern Art in Pre-Revolutionary Russia Used for: this artwork.
- [3] book Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New, 1980 Used for: this artwork.
- [4] book Witham, Larry; , Picasso and the Chess Player Used for: this artwork.
- [5] book Angelica Zander Rudenstine, Picasso (Guggenheim Museum catalogue, Archipenko entry) Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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