Lydia Corbett | Sylvette David - My Dance With Picasso

The Redfern Gallery is delighted to present My Dance with Picasso, the first exhibition of Lydia Corbett / Sylvette David's work at the gallery, bringing together paintings, drawings, and sculpture of an extraordinary artistic career. Long recognised for its highly selective programme and enduring commitment to artists of exceptional quality, The Redfern Gallery is proud to celebrate Corbett's remarkable creative legacy.

Born in Paris in 1934, Sylvette David (also known as Lydia Corbett) spent her childhood between Provence and the Île du Levant, a small Mediterranean island off the Côte d'Azur. Raised by her mother, the painter Honor Gell, she developed an intuitive relationship with drawing from an early age. Immersed in the brilliant light, sea and landscape of southern France, these formative experiences established a lifelong visual language rooted in memory, nature, and a profound sense of place.

In the spring of 1954, while living in Vallauris in the South of France, the nineteen-year-old Corbett met Pablo Picasso. Captivated by her striking profile and distinctive ponytail, Picasso invited her to sit for him, producing more than sixty paintings, drawings, and sculptures over the course of just three months. This remarkable body of work—now known as the Sylvette series—became one of the most celebrated and concentrated explorations of a single sitter in Picasso's career, revealing his extraordinary ability to reinvent form across various media. Corbett has always spoken warmly of their friendship, regarding Picasso not only as one of the twentieth century's greatest artists, but as someone who profoundly encouraged her own creative journey. Reflecting on their time together, she later told art critic Alastair Sooke, "I never thanked him enough. He immortalised me. I'm like the Mona Lisa. Amazing, don't you think?"

Although encouraged to paint by her father, the influential art dealer and painter Emmanuel David, it was only after raising her three children that Corbett devoted herself fully to her own artistic practice. From her home at Dartington Hall Estate in Devon, she developed a deeply personal visual language inspired by memory, family, nature, and the landscapes that have shaped her life. Whether working in watercolour, ink, or in bold, expressive oils, her paintings—often likened to the dreamlike lyricism of Marc Chagall—transform autobiography into richly imaginative compositions imbued with colour, symbolism, and joie de vivre.

Now aged ninety-one, Lydia Corbett continues to paint with remarkable energy and optimism. My Dance with Picasso celebrates not only an unforgettable artistic encounter, but a lifetime dedicated to creativity, inviting visitors to discover an artist whose own voice has flourished across seven decades while remaining inseparable from one of the most remarkable stories in modern art.

More infomation about our forthcoming exhibition Lydia Corbett | Sylvette David - My Dance with Picasso will be released soon.

You can register your interest here.

Please pre-view a selection of work below.