This drawing is a study for the large-format oil painting "La toilette", which is now in the permanent collection of the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo. Picasso's lover at the time, Fernande Olivier, served as the model.

Pablo Picasso captured the grace and beauty of the female nude with deliberately placed, clear lines. "Nu tenant un miroir" is elegantly portrayed from the side: with a straight profile, hair tied in a plait and a playful, slightly open leg position. In an upright posture, the woman presents the mirror mentioned in the title, which is merely indicated by a line. Reminiscent of a Roman or Egyptian statue, the drawing is an outstanding example of Picasso's engagement with classical art.

The work was created during the Pink Period, shortly before Picasso painted the radical and groundbreaking work "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (2007), which ultimately heralded Cubism and revolutionised art history. The present drawing is a study for the oil painting "La Toilette" (1906, collection of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York). It depicts two female figures: a clothed woman with a mirror and a female nude looking at herself while styling her hair. Vanity and sensuality are contrasted here with restraint and modesty. Both personalities are embodied by Fernande Olivier, Picasso's partner at the time, who modelled for both the drawing "Nu tenant un miroir" and the painting.

Picasso, who was based in Paris but spent the summer of 1906 with his partner in the Pyrenees, repeatedly captured Fernande Olivier in his paintings. Reduced to the essentials and drawn with virtuosity in a naturalistic style, the present work was created in a decisive period: Towards the end of 1906, Picasso began work on the painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", which marked a new era – both for him and within art history.