The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented oil painting on cardboard features thick, textured swathes of teal and black paint overlapping in layers. Frenetic cyan lines sweep across the surface in wide V-shapes, intermingling with bright yellow highlights. A small green circle sits near the center, while a gray circle rests at the top. White script at the bottom reads "Francis Picabia 1948." The work is enclosed in a dark wood frame.

Untitled

1948

Francis Picabia

(French, 1879–1953)
France
oil on cardboard
60 x 48.5 cm (23 5/8 x 19 1/8 in.)
Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation 2025.195
Location: 225 German Expressionism & Surrealism

Did You Know?

Throughout his career, Picabia changed styles so many times that he was described by contemporary critics as "shape-shifting" and "kaleidoscopic."

Description

Over a career that spanned more than 50 years, Francis Picabia became known for inventing and then abandoning one style after another, transitioning repeatedly from figuration to abstraction. His late paintings, made from the end of the Second World War until his death in 1953, were abstract and characterized by simplified elements, pared-down compositions in dark, brooding hues as seen in Untitled.
  • ? before 1964–? after 1965
    Hans Arp and Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach
    ? by1983–? before 2003
    Succi Collection
    ? by 1997–? before 2003
    Private Collection
    ? after 1997–? before 2003
    Galerie Neuendorf AG
    2003
    Hauser & Wirth
    2003–before 2008
    Private Collection
    possibly before 2008–possibly after 2012
    Hauser & Wirth
    2015–2025
    Alex Katz Foundation
    2025–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Sanouillet, Michel. Picabia. [Paris]: [Éditions du Temps], 1964. Reproduced: p. 141
    Schuldt, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Moderna Museet (Stockholm, Sweden). Francis Picabia. Köln: DuMont, 1983. Reproduced: p. 145, no. 157; Mentioned: p. 184, no. 157
    Borràs, Maria Lluïsa. Picabia. New York: Rizzoli, 1985. Reproduced: p. 490, no. 1106; Mentioned: p. 535, no. 894
    Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Picabia, 1879-1953. Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1988. Reproduced: p. 129; Mentioned: p. 149, no. 77
    Felix, Zdenek, ed. Francis Picabia: The Late Works 1933-1953. Ostfildern-Ruit, New York: Hatje; D.A.P. (distributor), 1998. Reproduced: p. 114
    Calté, Beverley, Galerie Michel Vidal, and Tibor de Nagy Gallery. Picabia: Funny Guy. Paris: Galerie Michel Vidal, 2009. Reproduced: unpaginated
    Darragon, Eric, and Michael Werner (Gallery). Francis Picabia: Late Paintings. New York: Michael Werner, 2011. Reproduced: cat. no. 23
    Wipplinger, Hans-Peter, and Felix Zdenek. Francis Picabia: Kunsthalle Krems. 1. Aufl. Köln: König, 2012. Reproduced: p. 158; Mentioned: p. 181
    Camfield, William A., Beverley Calté, Candace Clements, and Arnauld Pierre. Francis Picabia Catalogue Raisonné. Translated by Imogen Forster. Brussels: Mercatorfonds, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 392, no. 2018, Vol. IV
    Rower, A. S. C., Arnauld Pierre, and George Baker. Alexander Calder, Francis Picabia: Transparence. Ostfildern, [Zurich, Switzerland]: Hatje Cantz Verlag; Galerie Hauser & Wirth, 2015. Reproduced: p. 75
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled|url=false|author=Francis Picabia|year=1948|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.195