Family of Saltimbanques

1905

Pablo Picasso

Artist, Spanish, 1881 - 1973

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.

Media Options

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.

This is no “family” in the usual sense. A harlequin, a jester, a young man in a leotard, a boy in a blue costume, a girl in a tutu with a basket, and a woman in a flowered hat are arranged in this rose-hued landscape. They may be related, but they make no eye contact. These saltimbanques, or circus performers, seem to be haunted by their own thoughts. When Pablo Picasso painted this large canvas, the young Spanish artist had recently arrived in Paris. Like this band of entertainers, he and his creative friends were living on the margins of society. Picasso added his own distinctive profile to the harlequin.

Family of Saltimbanques (English)
View Tour Stop
On View

East Building Mezzanine, Gallery 217-C

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 212.8 x 229.6 cm (83 3/4 x 90 3/8 in.)
    framed: 240.4 x 256.3 cm (94 5/8 x 100 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.190

  • Copyright

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

More About this Artwork

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.

Interactive Article:  Isolation in Pablo Picasso’s "Family of Saltimbanques"

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

Video:  Pablo Picasso "Family of Saltimbanques" (ASL)

This video provides an ASL description of Pablo Picasso's Family of Saltimbanques.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased 1908 from the artist by André Level, Paris, for the collection of La Peau de l'Ours;[1] (their sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 2 March 1914, no. 63, as Les bateleurs); purchased by (Modernen Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Munich); sold between November 1914 and June 1915 to Hertha Koenig [1884-1976], Munich.[2] (Valentine Gallery, New York); sold 10 February 1931 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York;[3] bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] A letter from Level to Picasso dated 24 January 1908 in the Musée Picasso confirms a studio visit at that time (copy in NGA curatorial files; see also email from Annie Cohen Solal dated 4 October 2021). The purchase of the painting is described in André Level, Souvenirs d'un collectionneur. Paris, 1959: 23.
[2] The fifth Elegy by the German author Rainer Maria Rilke is dedicated to his friend and the owner of the painting, Hertha Koenig, a poet and promoter of art and artists. In November 1914, Rilke wrote to her that he had seen the painting at Thannhauser. In June 1915, while he was living in Munich and finding it difficult to obtain suitable lodgings, Rilke asked Koenig whether, while she and her family were in the country, he might live for a while in her house, and enjoy the privilege of living beside "the great Picasso." His request was granted, and he lived there from June until October. On June 28, in a letter to Thankmar Freiherr von Münchhausen, Rilke wrote that he was "sitting here in the apartment of friends...with the finest Picasso (the 'Saltimbanques'), in which there is so much Paris that, for the moment, I forget." (Wartime Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke 1914-1921, translated by M.D. Herter Norton, New York, 1940: 29-30). See also Rainer Maria Rilke: Duino Elegies. The German Text, with an English Translation, Introduction, and Commentary by J.B. Leishman and Stephen Spender, New York, 1939: 101-102.
[3] For Chester Dale's account of his acquisition of this painting from a bank in Switzerland, through Valentine Dudensing, see Dale's unpublished autobiography, Archives of American Art, microfilm reel #3969 (copies NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Picasso-Braque-Léger, Museum of French Art, New York, 1931, no. 4.

1943

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 1943-1952 (extended loan), unnumbered catalogue, repro. p. 48

1952

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1952, no. 51, repro.

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. 4, repro.

1980

  • Picasso: The Saltimbanques, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, no. 59, fig. 69, pl. 1.

1997

  • Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997-1998, no. 137, color repro. (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. 285, pl. 123.

1936

  • Bulliet, C. J. The Significant Moderns and Their Pictures. New York, 1936: repro. no. 103.

1943

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1943:, 48, repro.

1952

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1952 (2nd ed., 1960; rev. ed., 1965): 51, repro.

1959

  • Level, André. Souvenirs d'un collectionneur_. Paris, 1959: 23-24.

1960

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1960 (2nd ed.): 53, repro.

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 24, color repro. 18.

1965

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965 (rev. ed.): 72, repro.

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

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:512, color repro.

  • Michener, James A. “Four Miracles—And A Masterpiece.” Reader’s Digest 89 (November 1966): 164.

1968

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

  • Ishikawa, Joseph. "Moderne Malgré Lui: The Phenomenon of Puvis de Chavannes." Art Journal XXVII/4 (Summer 1968): 385, repro.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 128, color repro.

1973

  • Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 113 repro.

1975

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

1978

  • King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 112, pl. 73.

1979

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 128, pl. 116.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 600, no. 932, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 306, repro.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 240, 246, 247, color repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 254, repro.

  • Fitzgerald, Michael Cowan. "Skin Games," Art in America 80 (February 1992):70-83, repro.

1993

  • Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation: Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Early Modern (Exh. cat. Washington 1993). New York, 1993: 194, 197, fig. 1.

1995

  • Honour, Hugh and John Fleming. A World History of Art. 7th ed. New York, 2005: 782, color fig. 19.21

1997

  • Le miroir noir: Picasso,sources photographiques 1900-1928. Exh. cat. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1997, p. 128, no. 115, repro.

1998

  • Román, Lydia Vélez. Sigamos, Lecturas Literarias y Culturales. 1998: 62, repro.

  • Shefer, Elaine. "Masks/Personae." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:581.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 406-407, no. 337, color repro.

2008

  • Bois, Yve-Alain, ed. Picasso Harlequin 1917-1937. Exh. cat. Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, 2008-2009. Milan, 2008: 19, 20 fig. 2.

2012

  • Kennicott, Philip. "French Rooms Reopen, With Different Accents." Washington Post 135, no. 55 (January 29, 2012): E25.

2014

  • Cras, Sophie. "Wie verkauft man ein Bärenfell? Ein früher Fall von Kunstspekulation" = How to Sell a Bearskin: An Early Case of Art Speculation." Texte zur Kunst (March 2014): 96-99, color fig.

Inscriptions

lower right: Picasso

Wikidata ID

Q5433371

You may be interested in

Loading Results