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Picasso: The Artist's Studio

Understanding Picasso Through Conservation (UPTC)

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Harlequin with Violin (Si Tu Veux), 1918


Pablo Picasso, <I>Pierrot and Harlequin</I>, 1918<BR>Pencil on paper, 10-1/4 x 8-1/2 inches. The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles B. Goodspeed
Pablo Picasso, Pierrot and Harlequin, 1918
Pencil on paper, 10-1/4 x 8-1/2 inches.
The Art Institute of Chicago.
Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles B. Goodspeed
©2001 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pierrot and Harlequin, 1918

Picasso made many images of Pierrot and Harlequin while designing sets and costumes for the ballet Parade (1917).

The lonely, melancholic Pierrot, a poet associated with the moon, can be identified by his white, broad-brimmed, conical hat. By contrast, the acrobatic trickster Harlequin wears a black, trifold, Napoleonic hat and a colorful, diamond-patterned costume. Both Harlequin and Pierrot may be depicted wearing masks, or unmasked. They often play musical instruments, and Harlequin is sometimes seen carrying a magic wand or stick for spanking his victims.

Throughout his long career, beginning as early as 1904, Picasso repeatedly depicted himself as Harlequin. He apparently he identified with Harlequin's life as an individual destined to live outside "mainstream" society, yet dependent on supporting himself as an entertainer and performer of "magic tricks." Harlequin’s ability to transform whatever he touched with his magic wand suggests a metaphor for artistic creation with the painter’s brush.

Page 2 of 2 | On the next page: X-radiograph of Harlequin with Violin, 1918