The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Still Life with Biscuits

1924

Pablo Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)
Spain, 20th century
oil, sand, other materials on canvas
Framed: 119.4 x 138.8 x 10.2 cm (47 x 54 5/8 x 4 in.); Unframed: 80.8 x 100.4 cm (31 13/16 x 39 1/2 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1978.45
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Picasso created a wide variety of textures and patterns in this still life. The off-white paint used to represent the biscuits was applied like cake frosting in smooth, thick strokes, probably with a palette knife.

Description

The white geometric shape in the center of this painting represents a compote (a bowl with a base and stem) upon which three green fruits are arranged. To the right is a plate of long, wafer-thin biscuits that could be langues-de-chat (French for “cats’ tongues”), named for their shape. This painting is among the last of the artist’s forays into the style of Synthetic Cubism in which lively colors and large, geometric shapes were used to depict recognizable objects.
  • Paul Rosenberg [1881-1959], Paris, France
    -1978
    (E. V. Thaw, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1978-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires 1924 Picasso Still Life,” October 2, 1978, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–48. Reproduced: p. 26; Mentioned: p. 46, no. 126 www.jstor.org
    Henning, Edward B. “Two New Cubist Paintings by Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 2 (February 1981): 39–50. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 46-47, fig. 15, Back Cover www.jstor.org
    Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 117, no. 25
    Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Brigitte Léal, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. Picasso and Things: The Still Lifes of Picasso. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 210-211, no. 82
  • Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).
    Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
    Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).
    Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).
  • {{cite web|title=Still Life with Biscuits|url=false|author=Pablo Picasso|year=1924|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.45