The Death of Harlequin

1905/1906

Pablo Picasso

Artist, Spanish, 1881 - 1973

A young man, boy, and dog look at a man laid out on a bed in this horizontal drawing and watercolor. The skin of all three people is the cream-white of the paper, and their features, bodies, and objects are outlined with black ink. 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 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. His long-sleeved shirt and form-fitting pants are painted with loose diamond shapes in shades of leaf green, lemon yellow, and lapis blue. His slippers are sage green. The young man and boy look on from near the man’s shins on the far side of the bed, and a furry brown dog turns to look at the prone man from our side of the bed. The artist signed and dated the work in black in the top right corner, “Picasso 1906.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and black ink with watercolor on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 10.4 x 16.8 cm (4 1/8 x 6 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1996.129.2

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Zervos, Vol. 22, no. 337

  • Copyright

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


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift to NGA, 1996.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1998

  • Picasso e il viaggio in Italian 1917-1924, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, no. 11, repro.

2000

  • Picasso's World of Children, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2000, no. 39.

2004

  • The Great Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown, Musée du Grand Palais, Paris; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2004, no. 210.

Bibliography

1932

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

1981

  • Palau i Fabre, Josep. Picasso, The Early Years 1881-1907. New York, 1981: recto: 431, 548, no. 1179.

Inscriptions

upper right in pen and black ink: Picasso / 1906

Wikidata ID

Q64618766


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