Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, and draftsman and one of the defining figures of modern art. A co-founder of Cubism, he continually reinvented his visual language across a career spanning more than seven decades, moving between radically different approaches to figuration, abstraction, and classical imagery.

Femme et singe, 1954, belongs to Picasso’s sustained fascination with animals and their symbolic relationship to the human figure. Executed in pen, brush, and ink on paper, the work demonstrates the increasingly spontaneous and economical handling of line that characterized many of his drawings during the 1950s. The juxtaposition of a woman and monkey allowed Picasso to explore a recurring dialogue between human and animal qualities, combining humor and playfulness with sensual and psychological undertones.

The subject was particularly present in Picasso’s work in January 1954: the Musée Picasso Paris records a related Femme et singe ink drawing dated 3 January, while another closely related Femme assise et singe was drawn on 10 January 1954.