In Portrait en rose (circa 1962), Baltaxé portrays a student during her time teaching at Lycée Francais de Beyrouth. The figure looks softly at the viewer, placed against an adorned background, reminiscent of Matisse patterns.  Women were often the subject of Baltaxé’s work. Much like the current lot, her portraits of women often feature stylized features like rosy-cheeks. Her application of paint appears almost pastel-like, visually textured and muted. Her lines are soft, bleeding into one another.

Simone Baltaxé (French, b. 1925 - d. 2009) began her artistic training at the School of Applied Arts in Paris in 1940. Disrupted by World War II, she relocated to Lyon in 1942, and later continued her studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1946 under Jean Souverbie's mentorship.

1951 marked a significant turn in her life when she wed Noubar Martayan and moved to Lebanon, a country that became her home until 1978. Simone's work as an artist started gaining wider recognition in 1957 when she began participating in the Salons du Printemps at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut. A pivotal encounter in 1964 with George Audi, a master weaver, steered her towards the world of tapestry-making. This new artistic venture found its way into the prestigious Salons d’Automne at the Sursock Museum.

Baltaxé showcased her work in solo exhibitions, notably at Gallery One in 1968 and Modulart in 1974. Her distinctive works are still celebrated for their depth and texture, and remain proudly displayed in prominent collections, including the Sursock Museum 

in Beirut and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Baltaxé's oeuvre has recently re-captured the attention of prestigious institutions worldwide, securing her place in the collections of the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, and the Saradar Collection in Beirut. Further cementing her status in the art world, Baltaxé is poised to feature prominently in an anticipated group exhibition at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, dedicated to celebrating the contributions of women artists. This accolade underscores the significance of her work and its vital place within the narrative of contemporary art.