In 1907, Pablo Picasso introduced young artist Marie Laurencin to poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Their passionate affair lasted until 1912. Laurencin became the poet’s muse. He dedicated his poems to her and inspired her to create the painting “Apollinaire and His Friends”. The painting “Female Head” from the Museum collection was probably a study for this large group portrait made in 1909. In “Apollinaire and His Friends”, in addition to a depiction of Apollinaire and Picasso, we can see Fernande Olivier, Marie Laurencin, Gertrude Stein, poet Maurice Cremnitz, and two unknown women. One of them (between Picasso and Cremnitz) was the model for the Moscow portrait. She was probably a model who visited Picasso’s studio in Bateau-Lavoir between 1905-1909. The portrait is painted in Laurencin’s characteristic decorative style with large planes of local colors and expressive lines.