At the Lapin Agile by Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2011

At the Lapin Agile

Pablo Picasso
(Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France )

Date: 1905

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 39 x 39 1/2 in. (99.1 x 100.3 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1992, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002

Accession Number: 1992.391

Description: In this celebrated work, now an icon of life in bohemian Paris at the turn of the last century, Picasso depicts himself dressed as a Harlequin. He is accompanied by his recent lover Germaine Pichot. Previously, she had been the fatal obsession of Picasso's great friend Casagemas, who committed suicide in 1901. The painting was commissioned by Frédé Gérard—seen playing guitar in the background—for his Montmartre cabaret, Le Lapin Agile, where it was the only work by Picasso on permanent view in Paris from 1905 until 1912, when it was sold to a German collector.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/486162