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Images of circus perfomers by Pablo Picasso: 1904-1905

Pablo Picasso, Six Circus Horses with Riders, 1905.

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A pale, gray skinned young man stands next to a vase and plate of food against a pinkish-tan background in this loosely painted vertical painting on cardboard. The man’s body faces us but he looks down and slightly to our right with deeply shadowed eyes under dark brows. He has close-cropped, dark brown hair, a straight nose, and his full mouth is closed. He wears a slate-blue, fitted jacket over leggings, both painted with smudges of gray, dark green, and lilac purple, and some areas of the tan background show through. His feet are bare. The man’s left elbow, on our right, is bent so he holds his hand at his chest. The fingers of his other hand splay over his hip. Loosely painted and indistinct, a box-like form next to the man’s feet seems to be draped with a translucent white cloth. The box or table holds a tall terracotta vase behind a white dish. Four oval-shaped objects, painted with marigold orange and buttercup yellow, fill the plate and another sits on the cloth next to the dish. Sweeping but vague coral-peach lines and washes on the background suggest that the man may stand in front of a curtain. The artist signed the work “Picasso” in the lower left.

Pablo Picasso, Juggler with Still Life, 1905.

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Pablo Picasso, The Death of Harlequin [recto], 1905.

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