Harlequin

1969

A powerful late-career work by Pablo Picasso depicting a dynamic harlequin figure wielding a sword. The composition demonstrates Picasso's continued exploration of cubist fragmentation and bold color contrasts, with characteristic angular forms and expressive distortion. The harlequin motif, recurring throughout Picasso's oeuvre, reflects his lifelong fascination with theatrical characters and commedia dell'arte. This 1969 work represents the artist's mature style, created just four years before his death.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Signed: Yes

Notes

Art Deco apartment in Manhattan reimagined by Barbara Barry to house an impressive private collection of modern art. Photography by Jaime Ardiles-Arce for AD, 1998. The apartment, which the client uses when he comes to New York for both business and pleasure, had not been reworked since the building was erected in the 1920s; it was, Barry recalls, a warren of tiny spaces. Her objective was to create an incongruous mix: a loft like home in a landmark building, an apartment at once luxurious and spare. "We took out every single wall and re- thought the entire space." Barry envisioned the rooms as containers for the art, not as competition. In a living room that's dominated by a Picasso and a de Kooning, she eschewed gallery-white walls, opting instead for a color resembling candle wax. Pablo Picasso’s 1969 Harlequin occupies one wall; on another is Andy Warhol’s Nine Blue Jackie’s 1964 - Via Sebeau