Having fun with a cat and a fan

We, Zarathustra the Cat, first met Pablo Picasso at the beginning of XX century, and We sat for his famous masterpiece “Woman with a Fan” in 1905:

Pablo Picatso, Woman with a Fan and a Cat, having fun

It happened before We literally pushed Pablo to cubism.

Actually, We inspired the genius artist’s Rose Period (1904–1906) which is characterized by a lighter tone and style utilizing orange and pink colors. Now you know why he preferred them, just because he looked at the ginger cat at the sun

Pablo Picatso, Woman with a Fan and a Cat, having fun, detail

If you have a look at the painting in The National Gallery of Art, Washingon, you will notice that the cat somehow disappeared from the painting:

Pablo Picasso, Woman with a Fan, The National Gallery of Art, Washingon

You also may notice that the painting became twice smaller.

The secret of the transformation was very simple: the lady who posed with us was a crazy cat lover. She loved Us and how Picasso portraited us so much, that she begged the artist to give the half of the painting as her fee for being a model. The generous artist made her such a precious present on the condition that the lady granted Us half of her shrimps cocktail (the part were all the shrimps are, actually). It was done!