Harlequin

Pablo Picasso

1927 · Oil on canvas · Modern and Contemporary Art

The presence of Harlequin in this enigmatic picture—signaled by the bicorne hat and the lozenges at lower right—identifies this work as a self-portrait, for Harlequin was the artist's known alter ego. At the left margin, Picasso painted the shadow of his own profile, as if he were observing the disorientation of Harlequin and, by extension, himself. When he painted the picture, Picasso felt he was trapped in a failed marriage, the victim of his mentally unstable wife, Olga Kokhlova. He had already met the young woman who would become his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Date

1927

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

The Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls Collection, 1997