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 (1905–12; 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 on June 10, 1952, for $40,000, to de Hauke and Brame); [César Mange de Hauke, New York and Hector Brame, Paris, 1952; sold on August 5, 1952 to Knoedler]; [Knoedler and Co., New York, 1952; sold in September 1952, reportedly for $60,000, to Payson]; Joan Whitney (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, sold to Annenberg); Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, California (1989–92; owned jointly with MMA, 1992–his d. 2002; his bequest to MMA)
Munich. Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser. "Ausstellung Pablo Picasso," February 1913, no. 15.
Berlin. Ausstellunghaus am Kurfürstendamm. "Herbstausstellung," December 1913, no. 163.
London. Leicester Galleries. "Fifty Years of Portraits (1885–1935)," May–June 1935, no. 78 (as "La Romance du Lapin Agile. Portraits of the Painter, Alice and Père Fred," lent by Monsieur Rolf de Maré).
Föreningen för Nutida Konst. "Rolf de Marés Samling: Franska kubister," February 22–March 25, 1947, no. 70.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionist and Modern Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 11–end of summer, 1957, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 1–September 1, 1958, checklist no. 102.
Marseille. Musée Cantini. "Picasso," May 11–July 31, 1959, no. 6.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 6–September 4, 1960, no. 86.
New York. M. Knoedler and Co., Inc. "Picasso: An American Tribute. 1895–1909," April 25–May 12, 1962, no. 16.
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso: Two Concurrent Retrospective Exhibitions," February 8–March 26, 1967, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "New York Collects," July 3–September 2, 1968, no. 148.
New York. Wildenstein Gallery. "Modern Portraits: The Self and Others; an Exhibition Organized by the Department of Art History and Archaeology of Columbia University in the City of New York," October 21–November 28, 1976, no. 94.
Wellesley, Mass. Wellesley College Museum, Jewett Art Center. "One Century: Wellesley Families Collect," April 15–May 30, 1978, no. 53.
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "From Goya to Wyeth: The Joan Whitney Payson Collection," September 13–October 12, 1980, no. 66.
Tokyo. Isetan Museum of Art. "From Goya to Wyeth: The Joan Whitney Payson Collection," October 17–December 9, 1980, no. 66.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 118).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009, online catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 25.
Eugène Marsan. Sandricourt: Au pays des firmans; histoire d'un gouvernement. Paris, 1906, pp. 5–14.
"Le Premier 'Picassolâtre'." Le Figaro (October 3, 1911), p. 1.
Hans Hildebrandt. "Die Frühbilder Picassos." Kunst und Künstler II (1913), p. 376.
[Maximilian] K. Rohe. "Pablo Picasso." Die Kunst für Alle 28 (1913), pp. 381–82, ill.
"Kunst Wissenschaft und Leben: Bildende Kunst in Köln." Kölnische Zeitung (March 27, 1913), p. 1.
Carl Einstein. "Herbstausstellung am Kurfürsterdamm." Die Aktion 3 (1913), pp. 1186–89.
Wilhelm Michel. "Schwankungen und Entscheidungen." Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration 33 (October 1913–March 1914), p. 374, ill.
Elisabeth Luther Cary. "Art at Home and Abroad: News and Comment." New York Times (January 24, 1915), p. SM11.
Francis Carco. "Préface." Les Veillées du "Lapin Agile". Paris, 1919, p. vii.
Karl Asplund. Rolf de Marés tavelsamling: Några anteckningar. Stockholm, 1923, pp. 45, 50–51, pl. 22.
Dial 83 (September 1927), p. 6, ill.
Francis Carco. The Last Bohemia: From Montmartre to the Quartier Latin. New York, 1928, p. 35.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 1, Works from 1895 to 1906. Paris, 1932, p. 120, no. 275, ill.
Pierre Girieud. Souvenirs d'un vieux peintre. 1936–48, unpaginated manuscript, http://www.pgirieud.asso.fr/souvenir/souv1.htm.
Nils Palmgren. "Review of exhibition Stockholm 1947." Aftonbladet (February 27, 1947), unpaginated.
"Review of exhibition Stockholm 1947." Dagens Nyheter (February 21, 1947), unpaginated.
"Review of exhibition Stockholm 1947." Swenska Dagbladet (February 28, 1947), unpaginated.
La Biennale di Venezia. Exh. cat.no. 13–14, Venice, 1953, p. 10, ill.
Roland Penrose. Picasso Himself. Exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Arts. London, 1956, p. 33, under no 101, fig. 71.
Roland Penrose. Portrait of Picasso. New York, 1957, p. 33, fig. 71.
Raymond Cogniat. Picasso: Figures. Lausanne, 1959, p. 54, frontis.
Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Picasso: A Pictorial Biography. New York, 1959, pp. 43–44.
Anthony Blunt and Phoebe Pool. Picasso, the Formative Years: A Study of His Sources. London, 1962, pp. 22, 32, fig. 137.
John Richardson, ed. Picasso: An American Tribute. Exh. cat., Saidenberg Gallery. New York, 1962, unpaginated, no. 16, ill. (color), as "At the 'Lapin Agile'".
Jean Mollet. Les Mémoires du Baron Mollet. Paris, 1963, pp. 36–37.
Hans Ludwig C. Jaffé. Pablo Picasso. New York, 1964, pp. 72–73, pl. 73.
Fernande Olivier. Picasso and His Friends. London, 1964, p. 157.
John Berger. The Success and Failure of Picasso. Harmondsworth and Baltimore, 1965, p. 44, pl. 20.
Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1900–1906. Greenwich, Conn., 1967, pp. 253, 263, 336, no. XII.23, ill.
Ronald Alley. Picasso, The Three Dancers: The 48th Charlton Lecture. Newcastle upon Tyne, 1967, p. 19, fig. 7.
Douglas Cooper. Picasso Theatre. New York, 1968, pp. 16, 34, 342, pl. 35.
Paolo Lecaldano. L'opera completa di Picasso blu e rosa. Milan, 1968, p. 103, no. 197, pl. 40.
Dorothy Sieberling, ed. "Picasso: His Disguises (in special double issue: Picasso)." Life Magazine 65 (December 27, 1968), p. 123, ill.
Jean-Paul Crespelle. Picasso and His Women. New York, 1969, p. 63.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso por Picasso. Barcelona, 1970, pp. 138–39, 165, no. 59, ill.
Theodore Reff. "Harlequins, Saltimbanques, Clowns, and Fools." Artforum 10 (October 1971), pp. 36, 38, fig. 10.
Jean Leymarie. Picasso: The Artist of the Century. New York, 1971, pp. 210, 292, ill.
Roland Penrose. Portrait of Picasso. 2nd rev. ed. New York, 1971, p. 37, fig. 71.
William Rubin, ed. Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, including Remainder-Interest and Promised Gifts. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1972, pp. 33, 193.
Alfred Flechtheim. "Tagebuchblätter 1913." Neue deutsche Hefte 135/19 (1972), pp. 48, 54.
Jeanine Warnod. Washboat Days. New York, 1972, pp. 96, 98–99, ill.
Roland Penrose. Picasso: His Life and His Work. rev. ed. (first edition 1958). New York, 1973, pp. 117–18, pl. I-9.
Roland Penrose and John Golding, ed. Picasso in Retrospect. New York, 1973, pp. 26, 33–34, 274, pl. 33.
Denis Thomas. Picasso and His Art. London, 1975, p. 29.
Ronald Johnson. The Early Sculpture of Picasso, 1901–1914. PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley. New York, 1976, p. 34.
Kirk Varnedoe inModern Portraits: The Self and Others. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1976, p. xviii, fig. 13.
Douglas Brenner inModern Portraits: The Self and Others. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1976, pp. 127–29, 194–95, no. 94, ill.
Pierre Cabanne. Pablo Picasso: His Life and Times. New York, 1977, p. 99.
Pierre Daix. La Vie de peintre de Pablo Picasso. Paris, 1977, pp. 62, 66 n. 22, fig. 13.
Ronald Johnson. "Picasso's Parisian Family and the 'Saltimbanques'." Arts Magazine 51 (January 1977), pp. 91–93, ill.
Jean-Paul Crespelle. La Vie quotidienne à Montmartre au temps de Picasso, 1900–1910. Paris, 1978, pp. 162–63.
Jane Fluegel inPablo Picasso: A Retrospective. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1980, p. 57.
E. A. Carmean Jr. Picasso: The Saltimbanques. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., 1980, pp. 29, 50, 87 (under no. 33), 94, pl.2.
Mary Mathews Gedo. Picasso: Art as Autobiography. Chicago, 1980, pp. 63, 65.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso: The Early Years, 1881–1907. New York, 1981, pp. 393, 408, 544, no.1012, ill.
Roland Penrose. Picasso: His Life and His Work. 3rd ed. (1st ed., 1958). Berkeley, 1981, p. 109, pl. I-9.
Pierre Cabanne. Picasso: Pour le centenaire de sa naissance. Neuchâtel, 1981, pp. 64–65, pl. 16.
Carla Gottlieb. "Picasso as a Self-Portraitist." Colóquio: Artes, ser. 2, 23 (September 1981), pp. 15–16.
Pablo Picasso. Tokyo, 1981, pl. 15.
Jean-François Rodriguez. "Picasso à la Biennale de Venise(1905–1948): Sur deux letters de Picasso à Ardengo Soffici." Atti dell'Instituti Veneto di Scienze, Letter ed Arti 143 (1984–85), p. 50.
Martin Green and John Swan. The Triumph of Pierrot: The Commedia dell'Arte and the Modern Imagination. New York, 1986, p. 167.
Ronald Alley. Picasso: The Three Dancers. London, 1986, pp. 20–21, 27 n. 36, fig. 35.
Pierre Daix. Picasso créateur: La Vie intime et l'oeuvre. Paris, 1987, pp. 42, 55, fig. 14.
Hans-Albert Peters and Stephan von Wiese, ed. Alfred Flechtheim, Sammler, Kunsthändler, Verleger. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf, 1987, pp. 40–42, under n. 23, ill.
Ian Littlewood. Paris: A Literary Companion. New York, 1988, fig. 17.
Hans Ludwig C. Jaffé. Pablo Picasso. Concise ed. London, 1988, pl. 55.
Fernande Olivier. Souvenirs intimes: Écrits pour Picasso. Geneva, 1988, p. 197.
Rita Reif. "A Rose-Period Picasso Is to Be Auctioned." New York Times (September 8, 1989), p. C16, ill.
Rita Reif. "Walter Annenberg Buys a Picasso Painting for $40.7 Million." New York Times (November 16, 1989), p. C23, ill.
Pierre Assouline. An Artful Life: A Biography of D. H. Kahnweiler, 1884–1979. New York, 1990, pp. 65, 369 n. 31.
Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), pp. 36, 39, ill.
John Richardson with the collaboration of Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 1, 1881–1906. New York, 1991, pp. 368–69, 371–73, 510 nn. 8–9, p. 511 n. 12, ill.
Jérôme Coignard. "Le Salon de peinture de Mr. et Mrs. Annenberg." Beaux Arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 65.
Denys Chevalier. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods. New York, 1991, p. 72, ill.
Carsten-Peter Warncke. Pablo Picasso, 1881–1973. Ed. Ingo F. Walther. Vol. 1, The Works 1890–1936. Cologne, 1992, p. 128, ill.
Núria Rivero and Teresa Llorens inPicasso, 1905–1906: From the Rose Period to the Ochres of Gósol. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 1992, p. 126.
Hélène Seckel. Picasso: Les Chefs-d'oeuvre de la période rose. Quarante tableaux. Munich and Paris, 1992, pp. 17–18. pl. 6.
Christine Poggi. In Defiance of Painting: Cubism, Futurism, and the Invention of Collage. New Haven, 1992, pp. 32, 261 n. 10.
Pierre Daix inPicasso, 1905–1906: From the Rose Period to the Ochres of Gósol. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 1992, pp. 39–41.
Christian Geelhaar. Picasso: Wegbereiter und Förderer seines Aufstiegs, 1899–1939. Zürich, 1993, pp. 55, 57, 60, 275 n. 156, fig. 50.
Pierre Daix. Picasso: Life and Art. New York, 1993, pp. 29, 47–48, fig. 14.
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1992–1993." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 51 (Fall 1993), p. 62, ill. (color).
Richard A. Cardwell. "Picasso's Harlequin: Icon of the Art of Lying." Leeds Papers on Symbol and Image in Iberian Arts. Ed. Margaret A. Rees. Leeds, 1994, pp. 258–59, 277, 280, fig. 3.
John Richardson. "Picasso und Deutschland vor 1914." Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts; 20 Jahre Wittrock Kunsthandel; 20 Werke. Ed. Heiko Andreas and Wolfgang Wittrock. Düsseldorf, [1994], pp. 13, 23, ill.
Pierre Daix. Dictionnaire Picasso. Paris, 1995, pp. 18, 40, 65–66, 276, 379, 393, 693, 698.
Norman Mailer. Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man: An Interpretive Biography. New York, 1995, p. 168, ill.
Michael C. FitzGerald. Making Modernism: Picasso and the Creation of the Market for Twentieth-Century Art. New York, 1995, p. 277 n. 55.
Robert S. Lubar et al. inPicasso and the Spanish Tradition. Ed. Jonathan Brown. New Haven, 1996, pp. 43, 45, 48, figs. 39, 48.
John Richardson with the collaboration of Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 2, 1907–1917. New York, 1996, pp. 314, 322, 330.
Kirk Varnedoe inPicasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1996, pp. 130–31, 176, n. 20, ill.
Marilyn McCully, ed. Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., 1997, pp. 45, 203, ill. pp. 46 (fig. 39), 202 (fig. 7).
Cynthia Saltzman. Portrait of Dr. Gachet: The Story of a Van Gogh Masterpiece. New York, 1998, p. 297.
Ira Berkow. "Jewels in the Desert." Art News 97 (May 1998), pp. 144–45, ill.
Ornella Volta. "Picasso and Italy: The Last Memories of His Journey." Picasso: The Italian Journey, 1917–1924. Ed. Jean Clair. Milan, 1998, pp. 90, 92 n. 31, ill.
Brigitte Leal, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. The Ultimate Picasso. New York, 2000, pp. 80, 504, fig. 160.
Pepe Karmel in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, pp. 188, 507 n. 43.
Dan Franck. The Bohemians: The Birth of Modern Art, Paris, 1900–1930. London, 2001, p. 63.
Fernande Olivier et al. Loving Picasso: The Private Journal of Fernande Olivier. New York, 2001, p. 173.
André Roussard. Dictionnaire des lieux à Montmartre. Paris, 2001, p. 198.
Elizabeth Cowling. Picasso: Style and Meaning. London, 2002, pp. 27–28, 29–30, 117–18, 131, fig. 5.
Daniel Bonthoux and Bernard Jégo. Montmartre: Bals et cabarets au temps de Bruant et Lautrec. Exh. cat., Musée de Montmartre. Paris, 2002, p. 44, ill.
Impressionist and Modern Art: Evening Sale. Christie's, New York. November 3, 2004, p. 38, under no. 9.
Lisa Appignanesi. The Cabaret. rev. ed. New Haven and London, 2004, pp. 80–82, ill.
Jean Clair. The Great Parade: Portrait of the Artist as a Clown. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. New Haven, 2004, pp. 145, 373.
André Salmon. Souvenirs sans fin (1903–1940). Paris, 2004, p. 912.
Asher Ethan Miller inCézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde. Ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2006, p. 386, under no. 145.
Michael FitzGerald. Picasso and American Art. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2006, pp. 315, 327 n. 175.
Sabine Rewald inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 203, 288, no. 188, ill.
Pierre Daix. Pablo Picasso. Paris, 2007, pp. 56, 88, 119, 567 n. 8.
Pierre Daix inPicasso cubiste. Ed. Anne Baldassari. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 2007, pp. 9–10, fig. 1.
Karen Wilkin. "Homage at the Metropolitan." New Criterion 27 (December 2008), p. 6.
Yve-Alain Bois, ed. Picasso Harlequin, 1917–1937. Exh. cat., Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome. Milan, 2008, p. 19.
Erik Näslund. Rolf de Maré: Fondateur des ballets suédois, collectionneur d'art, créateur de museé. Arles and Stockholm, 2008, pp. 102–3, 106, 160–61, 480–81, 595 n. 1, p. 603 nn. 40–45, 604 under 1914, ill.
Joseph J. Rishel inMasterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection - New Edition. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein Asher Miller. 4th rev. ed. [1st ed., 1989]. New York, 2009, pp. ix, xii, 276–80, no. 52, ill.
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. 11.
Lucy Belloli 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. 74.
Asher Ethan Miller 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. 70–73, no. 25, ill. (color).
Thomas Kellein and David Riedel, ed. Picasso 1905 in Paris. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Bielefeld. Bielefeld, 2011, p. 34, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 399, ill. (color).
William H. Robinson. Picasso and the Mysteries of Life: La Vie. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 2012, pp. 80, 82, fig. 81 (color).
Eduard Vallès inYo Picasso. Self-Portraits. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 2013, pp. 83–84, 86, fig. 3 (color).
Sarah Lyall. "Is There a Perp in the Painting?" New York Times (April 27, 2016), p. C1.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 518, ill. (color), colorpl. 421.
Paloma Alarcó inPicasso/Lautrec. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Madrid, 2017, p. 57, fig. 37 (color).
Emilia Philippot inPicasso: The Blue and Rose Periods. Ed. Raphaël Bouvier. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Basel, 2019, p. 166, fig. 8 (color).
Olivier Berggruen inPicasso: Seven Decades of Drawing. Exh. cat., Acquavella Galleries. New York, 2021, p. 17, fig. 2 (color).
Pascal Bonafoux. Picasso: The Self-Portraits. New York, 2023, pp. 61–63, 210, colorpl. 97, lists it with the credit line Sotheby's, New York.
Associate Curator Jane A. Dini discusses Harley Quinn, a modern version of the classic character Harlequin from the Italian commedia dell'arte, as well as this year's most popular Halloween costume.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
ca. 1960
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