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Picasso: The Artist's Studio

Understanding Picasso Through Conservation (UPTC)


Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Sebastià Vidal Junyer, 1903<BR>Oil on canvas, 125. X 91.5 cm. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of David Edward Bright
Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Sebastià Vidal Junyer, 1903
Oil on canvas, 125. X 91.5 cm.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Gift of David Edward Bright
©2001 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Portrait of Sebastià Vidal Junyer, 1903

Picasso painted this portrait of fellow artist Sebastià Vidal Junyer in Barcelona in 1903. They had known each other since at least 1899, when they frequented the legendary artist’s café Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats). Curiously, Junyer’s face is defined with a heavy impasto, making it appear powerful and dramatic, while the woman was painted with a noticeably different technique–the tones more transparent, the brushwork looser and more quickly applied. This discrepancy prompted curators to request x-radiography of the painting, which revealed that the woman and table were not part of the original composition. Instead, Junyer’s right hand rested on the back of dog.

X-radiograph of Portrait of Sebastià Vidal Junyer

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