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Picasso: The Artist's Studio

About the Exhibition

Exhibition Highlights


<I>Academic Nude</I>, 1895–97<BR>Oil on canvas <BR>Museu Picasso, Barcelona <BR>[Cat. no. 2]
Academic Nude, 1895–97
Oil on canvas
Museu Picasso, Barcelona
[Cat. no. 2]
©2001 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Academic Nude, 1895–97

Academic Nude, 1895–97
Oil on canvas
Museu Picasso, Barcelona
[Cat. no. 2]
©2001 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In the spring of 1895, Picasso's family moved to Barcelona where his father had obtained a teaching position at the municipal art academy. For the next three years, the family spent their summers in their native town of Málaga, staying at the home of Picasso's uncle, Dr. Salvador Ruiz Blasco. Dr. Salvador took a strong interest in Picasso's training and provided models for him to study and paint. Academic Nude was executed either during Picasso's summer sessions in Málaga or during the regular season at the academy in Barcelona, where Picasso was admitted in the fall of 1895 at the age of fourteen. The model was carefully arranged to show the body as a set of interrelated parts. Props support his limbs so that the pose can be maintained for hours. A small, triangular block supports the right foot, while a larger cubic block raises the other leg into the air. The long pole helped the model keep his right arm elevated.

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