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Three Studies of an Acrobat

1905
Not on view
Picasso used the acrobat as Degas used the dancer: to understand the architecture of the human figure and the mechanics of support and balance. Here, with just a few deft marks of a nibbed pen, Picasso jotted his impressions of a circus performer balancing on one hand while rotating her hips and splayed legs. He made three sequential, alternative views of the same figure, as if he were moving around her while drawing. More likely, however, he drew from memory in his studio, playing back in his mind's eye the scene he had studied so intently.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Three Studies of an Acrobat
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: 1905
  • Medium: Pen and brown ink on brown paper
  • Dimensions: 9 9/16 × 12 3/8 in. (24.3 × 31.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Gregoire Tarnopol, 1979, and Gift of Alexander Tarnopol, 1980
  • Object Number: 1980.21.21
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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