F
© Copyrighted Artwork
This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
See the original at National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Family of Saltimbanques
by Pablo Picasso, 1905
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1905
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 212.8 × 229.6 cm (83.8 × 90.4 in)
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Finished in 1905 by Pablo Picasso, monumental canvas in 1905, during his Rose Period. Six circus performers stand in a barren landscape: a harlequin, a jester, two acrobats, a young girl, and a seated woman. Their poses suggest both isolation and quiet solidarity.
The saltimbanques were itinerant entertainers who traveled from town to town, living on society's margins. Picasso identified with these outsiders, and some scholars see the tall harlequin as a self-portrait. The warm pinks and earth tones replace the melancholy blues of his earlier work.
At over seven feet tall and wide, this is the largest painting from Picasso's Rose Period and is considered its work. It has been at the National Gallery of Art since 1963.
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About Family of Saltimbanques
This Picasso work is displayed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. It's one of the most important early Picassos in any American museum.
Saltimbanques were traveling circus performers in early 20th-century Europe. Picasso was drawn to these marginalized artists as symbols of the bohemian life.
The Rose Period (1904-1906) followed Picasso's Blue Period. Warmer pinks and earth tones replaced cold blues, and circus performers became his main subjects.
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