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©
Francis Picabia, VEGAP, Madrid
Francis Picabia

Predicament

1914
Watercolor and pencil on Paper mounted on cardboard.
53.8 x 64.7 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Inv. no.
703
(
1982.41
)
ROOM 42
Level 1
Permanent Collection
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Postpop rooms Rodin room
30 18th and 19th Centuries. Transatlantic Relations 31 19th Century. American Landscape and Environmental Awareness 32 19th Century. American Landscape and Urban Life 33 Recovering the ligth. Restoration of Waterloo Bridge, by André Derain 34 20th Century. Expressionist Landscapes 35 20th Century. Expressionist Portraits 36 20th Century. The Language of the Body 37 20th Century. Urban unrest 38 20th Century. Flowers 39 20th Century. Pioneers of abstraction 40 20th Century. Popular flavor 41 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition I 42 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition II 43 20th Century. Abstract Utopias 44 20th Century. Dada and Surrealism 45 20th Century. Interwar Realisms 46 20th Century. American Abstraction I 48 20th Century. Post-ward American Art 49 20th Century. Post-ward European Figurative Art 50 20th Century. Informalisms 51 20th Century. Homo Ludens 52 20th Century. Pop Art 53 Postpop rooms 54 Postpop rooms 55 Postpop rooms 56 Postpop rooms Rodin Exhibition room

Picabia’s relationship with abstract art was very short lived. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Predicament, a watercolour that predates Picabia’s conscription in summer 1914 and belonged to his friend Marcel Duchamp, was part of a suite of abstract works executed after he returned to Paris from New York. They may be considered in the same context as the watercolours he had shown at Alfred Steiglitz’s Photo Secession Gallery from March to April 1913, which expressed what he described as “the spirit of New York as I feel it.” Impressed by the American city’s modernity and vitality, Picabia threw himself into exalting the urban progress of Manhattan: “I have enlisted the machinery of the modern world and introduced it in my studio, ” he stated. Furthermore, the interviews and writings published during his period of residence in the American metropolis, which coincided with the Armory Show, reveal his insistence on the spontaneous, the expressive and the musical, denoting a particular closeness to the work of Kandinsky. This closeness may also be glimpsed in his own writings, as for him art consisted of an attempt “to render external an internal state of mind or feeling, to project onto the canvas emotional, temperamental, mental, subjective states.” 

Towards 1914 Picabia often incorporated the title of the work into the image, a device which enabled him to add certain thought-provoking ideas or contents. Embarras, the title inscribed on the upper part of the composition, which is generally translated as Predicament, has many connotations. It can also denote “problem” or “awkward situation, ” as well as “embarrassment, ” and therefore has various meanings depending on whether it refers to the nature of the image or to the state of mind of the artist or the viewer. Provocative titles of this kind, which began to enjoy a certain importance in Picabia’s pre-Dadaist works, became a decisive element in his Dadaist works produced between 1915 and 1920. It was precisely this provocative aspect of his oeuvre that was highlighted by André Breton, the painting’s owner from 1926, at the artist’s funeral in 1953: “Only someone who was a great aristocrat in spirit could dare do what you have done.” 

Paloma Alarcó

20th Century20th Century - European painting. Cubism and Its wakeWork on paperWatercolor and pencilPaper mounted on cardboard
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Predicament. El apuro, 1914
Predicament
Francis Picabia

©

Francis Picabia, VEGAP, Madrid

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The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundacion Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes and non-commercial uses.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the images set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license from VEGAP (www.vegap.es), or from the corresponding collective management organization in the country where the work is going to be used or, where appropriate, from the holder of their rights in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

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Any use other than those indicated above will require the prior written authorization of the Fundación.

Any request for educational and research use or for non-commercial use (including academic publications), should be directed by email to the Museum Photo Library through the email address archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org. This department manages the worldwide distribution of the images of the works of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the management of their reproduction rights for those uses.

The user agrees to use the image of the website solely and exclusively for the purposes described above and in accordance with the following terms of use, which, however, do not apply to the reproduction of the works included in the photographs, as they are protected by Copyright.

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Predicament. El apuro, 1914
Predicament
Francis Picabia

©

Francis Picabia, VEGAP, Madrid

Terms of Use

The Photo Library of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works on its Permanent Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialized publications, you should contact the Museum's Photo Library by email at the e-mail @email.

To request images or permits for other commercial or advertising uses (general publications, merchandising, exhibitions, audio-visual works, web pages, etc.), you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail @email.

The Photo Library and the Museum's Commercial Archive manage the worldwide distribution of images of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza works, as well as their reproduction rights. The applicable rates are calculated based on the nature and proposed use of the images, as well as the availability of the requested image.

Requests for scans or new photographs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, an additional fee will apply. Re-photographing a work will require a minimum of six weeks to complete.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the photographs set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license from  VEGAP (Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos www.vegap.es) or from the corresponding collective management organizations in the country where the work is going to be used or, where appropriate, from the holder of their rights in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

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