Harlequin Sitting (Portrait of Jacinto Salvadó)

Pablo Picasso; Harlequin Sitting (Portrait of Jacinto Salvadó); oil on canvas; 51 3/16 in. h × 38 3/16 in. w; 1923

After WWI, Picasso and other European artists began painting in a neoclassical style. This movement was called the Return to Order. Artists began to take their inspiration from traditional European art as a reaction to the war. Cubism was partially abandoned even by Picasso. Futurism, which had praised machinery, dynamism, violence and war, was rejected by most of its adherents.

“Harlequin” is a painting from this period. The Commedia dell’Arte figure of Harlequin was a significant character to Picasso. For him, Harlequin plays the role of a melancholic double, embodiment of the artist’s isolation and fragility. This painting is deliberately planned to look partly finished with the under drawing exposed. Picasso deftly balances the painted part with the drawn part, while placing the emphasis on the portrait with the lighter grey halo around the sitters face. The work is also a showcase for Picasso’s drawing skills.

The sitter is Jacinto Salvadó, who was an aspiring artist, and also originally from Spain. Picasso had lured Jacinto away from his place as assistant to Andre Derain to sit for a series of Harlequins. In return, Picasso introduced Jacinto to his art world contacts, and helped him become established in the Parisian galleries.

I first saw this painting in the book An Artist's Notebook by Bernard Chaet, published in 1979. I found this book in the MFA studios when I started my program at the University of Pennsylvania. I saw it in life for the first time at the Metropolitan Musem of Art exhibition Unfinished.

Arthur Bruso © 2018

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