Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, París
© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023.
Throughout his career, Pablo Picasso recurrently captured autobiographical content through the figure of Harlequin. This character, present in his work from 1901 until his last years, embodies for Picasso his own loneliness and fragility.
In this 1923 canvas, Picasso takes the metaphor to new horizons by integrating a real portrait into the figure of Harlequin. In this case, the face of this character takes the form of Joaquín Salvado, a friend of the artist. The costume he wears belongs to Picasso, a gesture that not only adds layers to Harlequin's identity, but also symbolically connects Picasso to other artists, such as Derain, who also portrayed Salvado in the same outfit.
The painting's apparent incompleteness intensifies its ambivalence. It combines a graphic style similar to engraving with diamonds enhanced by pale colors, evoking the artist's Rose period.
This portrait was acquired by the Centre Pompidou in 1965 and has remained an icon of the collection. As part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, the Centre Pompidou presents the exhibition Picasso. Drawing to infinity. The exhibition highlights the most prolific part of Picasso's creation through nearly a thousand works, including notebooks, drawings and engravings, mostly from the collection of the Musée national Picasso-Paris.
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