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.

Frédéric (Frédé) Gérard, Paris (acquired from the artist in 1905; sold in 1912); Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf (1912–14; sold in August 1914 for 7,000 marks, through Nils Dardel, to de Maré); Rolf de Maré, Hildesborg, Sweden, and Paris (1914–52; sold in 1952 for $40,000); [César Mange de Hauke, New York and Hector Brame, Paris, June 10–August 5, 1952; sold to Knoedler]; [Knoedler and Co., New York, August 5–September 1952; sold, reportedly for $60,000, to Payson]; Joan Whitney Payson (Mrs Charles Shipman Payson), Manhasset, New York (1952–d. 1975); her daughter, Mrs. Vincent (Lorinda) de Roulet, Manhasset (1975–89; sale, Sotheby's, New York, November 15, 1989, no. 31, to Annenberg); Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, California (1989–92; owned jointly with MMA, 1992–his d. 2002; his bequest to MMA)

Barcelona, Spain: Museu Picasso, ¦Picasso and the Circus¦, November 15, 2006–June 10, 2007

Ronald Alley, Picasso, The Three Dancers: The 48th Charlton Lecture (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1967), p. 19, fig. 7

Ronald Alley, Picasso: The Three Dancers (London, 1986), p. 21, fig. 35

Karl Asplund, Rolf de Marés Travelsamling (Stockholm, 1923), pl. 22

John Berger, Success and Failure of Picasso (London and Baltimore, 1965), p. 44

Anthony Blunt and Phoebe Pool, Picasso, The Formative Years: A Study of His Sources (London, 1962), no. 137

Raymond Cogniat, Picasso: Figures (Lausanne, 1959), frontispiece

Douglas Cooper, Picasso Theatre (New York, 1968), p. 16, pl. 35

Pierre Daix, Georges Boudaille, and Joan Rosselet, Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings 1900-1906, translated by Phoebe Poll (Greenwich, CT, 1967), p. 253, pl. xii23

Mary Matthews Gedo, Picasso: The Early Years 1881-1907, translated by Kenneth Lyons (Barcelona, 1985), p. 393, no. 1012

Hans L.C. Jaffé, Pablo Picasso, translated by Norbert Guterman (New York, 1964), pp. 72-73

Paulo Lecaldano and Alberto Moravia, L'opera completa di Picasso blu e rosa (Milan, 1968), no. 197, pl. XL

Roland Penrose, Portrait of Picasso (New York, 1956; reprint, New York, 1971), p. 37, no. 71

Roland Penrose, Picasso: His Life and Work (London, 1958), no. 7, pl. 1

Theodore Reff, "Themes of Love and Death in Picasso's Early Work," in Picasso in Retrospect, edited by Roland Penrose and John Golding (New York and Washington, D.C., 1973), p. 33, pl. 33

Denys Sutton, Picasso, Peintures époques bleue et rose (Paris, 1948), no. 38

Christian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, vol. 1 (Paris, 1957), p. 120, no. 275