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  • Francis Picabia

Francis Picabia

1879–1953

Alarm Clock 1919
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2023
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In Tate Modern

In the Studio

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Biography

Francis Picabia (French: [fʁɑ̃sis pikabja]: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22 January 1879 – 30 November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, writer, filmmaker, magazine publisher, poet, and typographist closely associated with Dada.

When considering the many styles that Picabia painted in, observers have described his career as "shape-shifting" or "kaleidoscopic". After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism. His highly abstract planar compositions were colourful and rich in contrasts. He was one of the early major figures of the Dada movement in the United States and in France before denouncing it in 1921. He was later briefly associated with Surrealism, but would soon turn his back on the art establishment.

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Dada Surrealism

Artworks

Left Right
  • Francis Picabia Conversation I

    1922
  • Francis Picabia The Fig-Leaf

    1922
  • Francis Picabia Portrait of a Doctor

    c.1935–8
  • Francis Picabia The Handsome Pork-Butcher

    c.1924–6, c.1929–35
    On display at Tate Modern part of In the Studio
  • Francis Picabia Otaïti

    1930
  • Francis Picabia Alarm Clock

    1919

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