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Isolation in Pablo Picasso’s "Family of Saltimbanques"

The painting shows us the ambiguity and loneliness of life on the outskirts of society.

3 min read
A group of three men, two children, and one woman gather in an empty, dusky rose-pink landscape under a blue, cloudy sky in this nearly square painting. Most of the people have muted, peachy skin, and the woman and the youngest boy have cream-white skin. The woman sits on the ground to our right, apart from the rest of the men and children. She wears a coral-red skirt, a beige shawl, and straw hat, and she looks into the distance to our right. The others stand in a loose semi-circle on the left half of the composition. A man wearing a multicolored, diamond-patterned costume stands with his back to us to the left. He looks to our right in profile and holds the hand of a little girl who also stands with her back to us. She wears a pink dress and white stockings, and her right hand rests on the tall handle of a white basket. A portly man wearing a scarlet-red jester’s costume and pointed hat stands opposite this pair, facing us to our right. Next to him to our right a young man wears a tan-colored leotard with a black bottom. He holds a barrel over his right shoulder and looks over to our right. The sixth person is the youngest boy, who wears a baggy blue and red outfit, and he looks toward the woman. The eyes of all the figures are deeply shadowed.
Pablo Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques, 1905, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.190

Have you ever seen a jester look so sad? Or a group of circus performers without a big tent in sight?

Saltimbanques are street acrobats. The word combines the Italian saltare—to jump—with banco—bench, platform, or stage. But the figures in this eerie painting seem to float above the ground in a strange, barren landscape. And the pale colors and thin layers of paint add to a vague, dreamlike feeling. These people appear trapped in limbo, stuck in a state of uncertainty.

Austrian poet Ranier Maria Rilke was struck by the unsettling, sad mood of Family of Saltimbanques. In a poem about the painting, he asked, “Who are they, these wanderers, even more transient than we ourselves?”

We may ask the same question—who are these people? Where are they? And, importantly, what is Picasso trying to tell us?

Picasso Moves to Paris

In 1904 Spanish artist Pablo Picasso moved to Paris. At first, he struggled to establish himself there. He was an immigrant in a large, rapidly industrializing city. The painter was also under surveillance by the French police, who suspected him of anarchist leanings and foreign sympathies. The ambivalent, lonely feeling of Family of Saltimbanques may reflect these difficult experiences.

But Picasso did quickly bring together a group of artists, writers, and other creatives known as “la bande à Picasso.” This loose collective included painters Juan Gris and Georges Braque, as well as poets Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire.  

In this painting, Picasso may be connecting the saltimbanques with his own group of misfits. They stand—or seem to hover—on the outskirts of Paris, just as his bande occupied the outer ring of Parisian society.

A group of three men, two children, and one woman gather in an empty, dusky rose-pink landscape under a blue, cloudy sky in this nearly square painting. Most of the people have muted, peachy skin, and the woman and the youngest boy have cream-white skin. The woman sits on the ground to our right, apart from the rest of the men and children. She wears a coral-red skirt, a beige shawl, and straw hat, and she looks into the distance to our right. The others stand in a loose semi-circle on the left half of the composition. A man wearing a multicolored, diamond-patterned costume stands with his back to us to the left. He looks to our right in profile and holds the hand of a little girl who also stands with her back to us. She wears a pink dress and white stockings, and her right hand rests on the tall handle of a white basket. A portly man wearing a scarlet-red jester’s costume and pointed hat stands opposite this pair, facing us to our right. Next to him to our right a young man wears a tan-colored leotard with a black bottom. He holds a barrel over his right shoulder and looks over to our right. The sixth person is the youngest boy, who wears a baggy blue and red outfit, and he looks toward the woman. The eyes of all the figures are deeply shadowed.
Pablo Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques, 1905, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.190

A Cast of Circus Characters

Also during his first years in Paris, Picasso began attending performances at the Cirque Medrano in the artistic, bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre.

The circus featured clowns, acrobats, and stock characters from the commedia dell’arte, a popular form of theater that originated in 16th-century Italy. Picasso began drawing and painting the dynamic scenes of the Cirque Medrano and eventually got to know some performers.

Here, he includes a few well-known figures from the commedia dell’arte tradition.

Unanswered Questions

Some elements of this work remain mysterious. 

The Painter Makes Changes

While we can learn much from the painting in its current form, conservation research has revealed that Picasso made several changes.

In preparatory studies for Family of Saltimbanques, Picasso placed the figures in front of an action-packed horse race. He painted himself not as a harlequin but as a gentleman wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Picasso sketched other arrangements of figures. In one, a boy balances on a ball.

A group of three men, two children, and one woman gather in an empty, dusky rose-pink landscape under a blue, cloudy sky in this nearly square painting. Most of the people have muted, peachy skin, and the woman and the youngest boy have cream-white skin. The woman sits on the ground to our right, apart from the rest of the men and children. She wears a coral-red skirt, a beige shawl, and straw hat, and she looks into the distance to our right. The others stand in a loose semi-circle on the left half of the composition. A man wearing a multicolored, diamond-patterned costume stands with his back to us to the left. He looks to our right in profile and holds the hand of a little girl who also stands with her back to us. She wears a pink dress and white stockings, and her right hand rests on the tall handle of a white basket. A portly man wearing a scarlet-red jester’s costume and pointed hat stands opposite this pair, facing us to our right. Next to him to our right a young man wears a tan-colored leotard with a black bottom. He holds a barrel over his right shoulder and looks over to our right. The sixth person is the youngest boy, who wears a baggy blue and red outfit, and he looks toward the woman. The eyes of all the figures are deeply shadowed.

The boy balancing on the ball is seen in the circle. He bends his elbows and rests his hands on his hips. Look closely and you can see the ghosts of other figures Picasso painted over, like a face on the far left of the composition.

X-rays under the surface of the painting reveal that he painted the balancing figure on the canvas before painting over it.

 

In the final composition, Picasso has isolated the characters from their craft as circus performers. They stand still, without any clear purpose, movement, or direction. He has also removed them from society; they are truly alone in the landscape.

 

By the early 1920s, Picasso would find success in Paris and gain international fame. But at the moment when he created this painting, he seemed to identify with the outcasts of society.

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