Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
ADJUNCT MODULE D: WORLD ART
Preferred Title:
Harlequin with a Mirror
Image View:
Detail, costume and hand holding mirror
Creator:
Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973)
Location:
repository: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, Madrid, Spain) Inv. no. 709 (1979.87)
Location Note:
Paseo del Prado, 8
GPS:
40.416111-3.695
Date:
1923 (creation)
Cultural Context:
French
Style Period:
Twentieth century
Work Type 1:
painting (visual work)
Classification:
Paintings
Material:
oil paint on canvas
Technique:
oil painting (technique)
Measurements:
100 cm (height) x 81 cm (width)
Subjects:
human figure; Commedia dell’arte; Performing arts; theater; acrobat; circus
Description:
Initially intended as a self-portrait (as shown by x-rays), Harlequin with a Mirror combines three characters from the circus and the Commedia dell’arte that held a strong fascination for Picasso, and with which he identified: the two-cornered hat is a clear reference to Harlequin, the clothes are those of an acrobat, while Pierrot’s face conceals the artist’s identity. The solid figure of Harlequin, whose body takes up most of the composition, is evidence of a new artistic idiom inspired by the classical approach of the great masters, which Picasso had adopted after his visit to Italy in 1917. Europe’s interwar art scene was dominated by a return to classical ideas; later in 1923 Picasso returned to "curvilinear" Cubism. (Source: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum [website]; https://www.museothy ssen.org/en/)
Collection:
Archivision Adjunct Module D: World Art
Identifier:
7A1-PICASSO-TBM-HWM- A014
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.

Harlequin with a Mirror