Georges, Braque, Si je mourais là-bas (p.47), 1962

Louise de Coligny-Châtillon was one of France’s first female aviators. For less than a year, she was the object of Guillaume Apollinaire’s mad love, inspiring him to write Poèmes à Lou.

This profile of a queen, transposed by Georges Braque in woodcut on a royal blue background, illustrates the author’s love for this young woman. The crowned head seems to gaze tenderly at her chosen one. In contrast to the painting The Two Birdscreated for a ceiling in the Louvre, where Braque surrounded two black birds with a thick white line, the profile is surrounded by a black line.