The Death of Harlequin [recto]

1905

Pablo Picasso

Artist, Spanish, 1881 - 1973

A young man and boy look at a man laid out on a bed in this horizontal composition. All three people have white-colored skin and are loosely painted, as is the incomplete setting. The man lies with his eyes closed on the bed with his head to our left and feet to our right. He is on a baby-blue field, perhaps a blanket, and his head is propped up on a thick white pillow. He has black hair and delicate features, and his hands are together in prayer over his belly. The white ruffled collar and a diamond made up of smaller red, blue, yellow, and black diamonds are painted on his shoulder. The rest of his body is blocked in loosely with lapis blue except the cuff we can see, which is bright white. The young man and boy look on from near the man’s shins on the far side of the bed. Both have close-cropped hair. The young man cranes his neck forward, and his head and shoulders are surrounded by a white field against the brown cardboard on which this is painted. His garment is white over the shoulders and red on the torso. Only the head and neck of the boy are visible beyond the prone man. The artist signed the work in black in the lower right corner, “Picasso.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gouache over charcoal on cardboard

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 68.5 x 95.7 cm (26 15/16 x 37 11/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1996.129.1.a

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Zervos, Vol. 1, no. 302

  • Copyright

    © 2012 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Associated Artworks

Woman Sitting in a Garden [verso]

Pablo Picasso

1901

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Wilhelm Uhde, 1906; (Galerie Caspari, Munich); sold 1915 to Hertha Koenig [1884-1976], Munich;[1] sold 1950 to (Justin K. Thannhauser, New York);[2] W. Somerset Maugham, St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat; (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 10 April 1962, no. 26); purchased by (Hector Brame, Paris) for Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift to NGA, 1996.
[1] Christian Geelhaar, Picasso. Wegbereiter und Foerderer seines Aufsteigs 1899-1939, Zurich, c. 1993: 73-75.
[2] Correspondence in the Thannhauser files at ZADIK [Zentralarchiv des Internationalen Kunsthandels, Cologne], transcriptions in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1901

  • Galerie Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1901 (verso only).

1913

  • Galerie Thannhauser, Munich, 1913.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 194 (recto only).

1978

  • Aspects of Twentieth Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978-1979, 21, 116, no. 8 (recto only).

1980

  • Picasso, The Saltimbanques. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980-1981, 15, 55, 87, pl. 7, fig. 72, cat. no. 38 (recto only).

1997

  • Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997-1998.

2001

  • A Century of Drawing, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002, no. 8, as The Death of Harlequin.

2011

  • Picasso's Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition, The Frick Collection, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2011-2012, no. 19. (recto only)

2016

  • In Celebration of Paul Mellon, NGA, 2016 (recto only)

Bibliography

1921

  • Raynal, Maurice. Picasso. Munich, 1921: pl. 16 (recto only).

1932

  • Zervos, Christian. Pablo Picasso. 33 vols. Paris, 1932-1978.

1955

  • Sutton, D. Picasso, peinture, époques blues et rose. Paris, 1955: no. 27.

  • Elgar, Frank and Robert Maillard. Picasso. Paris, 1955: 265 (repr. recto only) .

1956

  • Jeudwine, W.R. "Modern Paintings from the Collection of W. Somerset Maugham II." Apollo 64(Nov. 1956): 137 (repr. recto only).

1962

  • Blunt, Anthony and Pheobe Pool. Picasso, The Formative Years: A Study of His Sources. Greenwich, Conn., 1962: pl. 134 (recto only).

1965

  • Kay, Helen. Picasso's World of Children. New York, 1965: 72 repro. (recto only).

1966

  • Young, Mahonri Sharp. "The Mellon Collections: The Great Years of French Painting." Apollo 83 (June 1966): 436, fig. 5 (recto only).

1967

  • Vallier, Dora. "Le mythe Picasso." in Fermingier, A., ed. Picasso Collection Génies et Réalités. Paris, 1967: 235 (repr. recto only).

  • Daix, P., G. Boudaille, and J. Rosselet. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Paintings 1901-1906. Greenwich, 1967: 265 no. XII.27.

1968

  • Moravia, Alberto and Paolo Lecaldano. L'opera complete di Picasso, blu e rosa. Milan, 1968: 103, no. 198. pl. 41 (recto only).

1971

  • Leymarie, Jean. Picasso Métamorphoses et unité. Geneva, 1971: 23 (repr. recto only).

  • Reff, Theodore. "Harlequins, Saltimbanques, Clowns and Fools." Artforum 10(October 1971): 42 (recto only).

1973

  • Penrose, Roland, Sir and John Golding, eds. Picasso in Retrospect. New York, 1973: 30, fig. 39 (recto only).

1977

  • Daix, Pierre. La vie de peintre de Pablo Picasso. Paris, 1977: 62 (not repr.).

1980

  • Rubin, William. Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1980: 59 (repr. recto only).

1981

  • Palau i Fabre, Josep. Picasso, The Early Years 1881-1907. New York, 1981: recto: 431, 548, no. 1182; verso: 242, 535, no. 623.

1987

  • Daix, Pierre. Picasso créateur. La vie intime et l'oeuvre. Paris, 1987: 58 (not repr.).

1993

  • Geelhaar, Christian. Picasso: Wegbereiter und Förderer seines Aufstiegs 1899-1939. Zurich, c.1993: 73-75.

1997

  • Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997-1998: no. 141.

  • Ritchie, Charles. "Pablo Picasso, The Death of Harlequin." Bulletin / National Gallery of Art no. 17, (Spring 1997): 2, repro.

2000

  • Picasso's World Of Children. Exh. cat. National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, 2000: 82, under no. 39, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right in pen and black ink: Picasso; lower right verso in blue paint: Picasso

Wikidata ID

Q64618763

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