In connection with, or soon after, his first solo exhibition at the principal meeting place of the Barcelona avant-garde, the bohemian tavern Els Quatre Gats, Picasso made a set of small caricatures of the prominent members of the informal club. Together with Ramon Casas, Rusiñol (1861–1931) is the best known of the artists who founded Els Quatre Gats. From 1890 to 1894 he lived in Paris, where he shared a Montmartre studio with Casas, frequented the famed bohemian café Le Chat Noir, and headed the community of Catalan expatriates in Paris. His stylish figurative paintings, with socially conscious subject matter, were a key model for Picasso during his years in Barcelona.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Inscription: Signed in ink, lower left: - P. Ruiz Picasso -
Santiago Juliá, Barcelona (by 1955); C. Michael Paul, New York (until d. 1980); his sister, Dr. Raymonde Paul, New York (1980–82; her gift to MMA)
Barcelona. Els Quatre Gats. "Exhibitions of Drawings by Pablo Picasso," February 1900, no catalogue [possibly this picture].
Providence. Rhode Island School of Design. "Modern Catalan Painting," January 15–February 8, 1932, no. 36 (as one of 18 sketches of Catalonian artists; for sale) [probably this picture].
Brooklyn Museum. "Modern Catalan Painting," February 15–March 12, 1932, no catalogue [probably this picture].
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Modern Catalan Painting," April–May 1932, no catalogue [probably this picture].
Springfield, Mass. Springfield Art Museum. "Modern Catalan Painting," June 1–13, 1932, no. 35 (as one of 18 sketches of Catalonian artists) [probably this picture].
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "Modern Catalan Painting," July 1932, no catalogue [probably this picture].
Ann Arbor. University of Michigan. "Modern Catalan Painting," August 1932, no catalogue [probably this picture].
Barcelona. Palacio de la Virreina y Museo de Arte Moderno. "III Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte: Forerunners and Masters of Contemporary Spanish Art," September 24–October 24, 1955, no. 23.
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Der Junge Picasso: Frühwerk und Blaue Periode," December 6, 1984–February 17, 1985, no. 87.
Charleroi. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "Picasso, Miró, Dalí: Évocations d'Espagne," September 24–December 22, 1985, no. 10.
Barcelona. Museu Picasso. "Picasso i els 4 Gats: La clau de la modernidad," November 1995–February 1996, no. 85.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí," October 15, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 3:16.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí," March 7–June 3, 2007, no. 3:16.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Barcelona 1900," September 21, 2007–January 20, 2008, unnumbered cat. (p. 149).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 6.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris. "Picasso: Bleu et rose," September 18, 2018–January 6, 2019, not in catalogue.
New York. Gagosian. "A Foreigner Called Picasso," November 10, 2023–February 10, 2024, unnumbered cat. (p. 42).
Rodriguez Codolà. "Els IV Gats: Exposicion Ruiz Picazzo [sic]." La Vanguardia (February 3, 1900), (2006 ed., pp. 265–66).
Edward Alden Jewell. "A Deluge of Art Exhibitions." New York Times (February 15, 1932), p. 15 [probably this picture].
"Catalan Paintings to Be Shown." New York Herald Tribune (February 14, 1932), p. 22 [probably this picture].
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso en Cataluña. Barcelona, 1966, pp. 66, 238, fig. 31.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 21, Supplément aux anneés 1892-1902. Paris, 1969, p. 44, no. 111, ill.
Jane Fluegel inPablo Picasso: A Retrospective. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1980, p. 19, fig.c.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso, Barcelona, Catalunya. Barcelona, 1981, p. 48, ill.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso: The Early Years, 1881–1907. New York, 1981, pp. 191, 529, no. 435, ill.
Lisa Messinger. "Picasso Portrait Drawings: Barcelona 1899–1900." Drawing: The International Review published by the Drawing Society 8 (November 1986), p. 75, fig.4.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 8.
Magdalena Dabrowski inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 24–25, no. 6, ill. (color).
Rachel Mustalish inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 24.
Elizabeth Cowling inPicasso Portraits. Ed. Elizabeth Cowling. Exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London. London, 2016, pp. 41, 234, no. 24, ill. p. 40 (color).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
