Le gourmet

1901

Pablo Picasso

Artist, Spanish, 1881 - 1973

Painted almost entirely in shades of cool blues, a little girl stands at a table holding a bowl and spoon in this vertical painting. The table comes into the scene from our left, and she faces it in profile facing our left. The table is covered with a cloth and comes up to her chest. She looks down into the bowl, which she tips toward her with the hand closer to us, and she holds a spoon inside, as if stirring, with the other. She has a high forehead, a snub nose, and a rounded chin. The vivid pink of her lips and cheeks and the tawny brown of her shoulder-length hair contrast with the icy blues of the rest of the picture. She wears a knee-length dress with a wide cloth wound around her neck with the ends trailing down her chest and back. Marine-blue socks come halfway up her otherwise bare calves, and she wears dark shoes. There are two more objects on the table: a mug, painted with a coral-orange and blue design, and a flax-yellow object that could be a piece of food. The girl's dress, the cloth around her neck, and the tablecloth are painted in shades of turquoise, sky, and cobalt blue. A brown wooden leg emerges from under the tablecloth. The floor around the girl is pale blue with a darker blue area indicating the shadow cast by the table. The shadow is streaked with a few lines of orange and light brown. Blue fields on the back wall behind the girl could be blue curtains next to a patch of brown wall, in the upper left corner. All of the objects and the girl’s features are outlined in royal blue. The artist signed the upper left corner, “Picasso.”
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On View

East Building Mezzanine, Gallery 217-C

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 92.8 x 68.3 cm (36 9/16 x 26 7/8 in.)
    framed: 117.8 x 94 x 10.1 cm (46 3/8 x 37 x 4 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.52

  • Copyright

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

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. Alexandre, Paris.[1] Josef Stransky [1885-1936], New York, by 1930;[2] (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold November 1936 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] Ralph Flint, "The Private Collection of Josef Stransky," Art News XXIX no. 33 (16 May 1931): 88.
[2] Stransky lent the painting to The Museum of Modern Art's 1930 exhibition Painting in Paris from American Collections.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1901

  • Exposition De Tableaux De F. Iturrino et de P.-R. Picasso, Galerie Vollard, Paris, 1901, no. 47, as L'Enfant blanc.

1930

  • Painting in Paris from American Collections, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1930, no. 65, repro., as The Sweet Tooth.

1932

  • The Stransky Collection of Modern Art, Worcester Art Museum, 1932-1935 (extended loan).

1933

  • A Century of Progress, Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 401.

1936

  • Collection of a Collector, Wildenstein & Co. Ltd., London, 1936.

1943

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 1943-1952 (extended loan), unnumbered catalogue, repro. p. 45

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1978

  • Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 2, repro.

1997

  • Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997-1998, no. 64, color repro., as The Greedy Child (shown only in Washington).

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1932

  • Zervos, Christian. Pablo Picasso. 33 vols. Paris, 1932-1978: 1(1957): no. 51, pl. 23.

1943

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1943:, 45, repro.

1965

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965 (rev. ed.): 67, color repro.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 101.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 89, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 264, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 602, no. 934, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 304, repro.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 248-249, color repro.

1997

  • Le miroir noir: Picasso,sources photographiques 1900-1928. Exh. cat. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1997: 30, no. 17, repro.

Inscriptions

upper left: Picasso

Wikidata ID

Q20190784

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