The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Vertically oriented dark, black ink print depicting four people in frenetic cross-hatching, blending into the dark background. In the lower right corner, two children kneel, one pushing the arm of the other, bent in front of them as they lean back. Left of them, a person sits, looking down at something in their lap, with the fourth figure standing behind them, looking to our right with tousled hair and a beard. Behind, a horse grazes.

The Poor

1905, printed 1913

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)
printer

Louis Fort

(French, active 1800s–1900s)
publisher

Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1867–1939)
Spain, 20th century
etching
Image and Plate: 23.5 x 17.7 cm (9 1/4 x 6 15/16 in.); Sheet: 50.8 x 33 cm (20 x 13 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1929.890
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Geiser/Baer I.22.4; Bloch 3
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

As a struggling artist in the early years of his career, Picasso frequently depicted figures living in poverty or on the margins of society.
  • ?-1929
    (C.W. Kraushaar Galleries, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1929-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Dumas, Ann. "The Rose Period." In Picasso and Paper. William H. Robinson, et al., 80-101. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2020. Reproduced: P. 90, cat. no. 62
  • Picasso and Paper. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (co-organizer) (January 25-August 2, 2020) https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/picasso-and-paper; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (co-organizer) (December 8, 2024-March 23, 2025).
    Contemporary European Prints from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-September 6, 1939).
  • {{cite web|title=The Poor|url=false|author=Pablo Picasso, Louis Fort, Ambroise Vollard|year=1905, printed 1913|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.890