From Picasso with Love

A rising star on the Paris art scene, Picasso was inspired to venture deeper into his experiments in Cubism when he met Eva Gouel in 1911. This young woman became his muse, and, to declare his love, Picasso wrote her nickname “Ma Jolie” (my pretty one)—derived from the lyrics of a popular song of the time—on the surface of his paintings. This exhibition unites two masterpieces, Ma Jolie (1913-14) from the IMA’s collection, and Female Nude (I Love Eva) (1912) on loan from the Columbus Museum of Art, and sets them in the context of Cubism and the popular song from which Eva got her nickname.