When France entered World War I in August 1914, Picasso, a Spanish national, was not required to serve. He expressed his patriotic sentiments for his adopted country by indirect allusion, as seen at left in the white souvenir cup with its crossed flags. Seemingly nothing is somber in this riotously colorful array, from the bottle of the raffia-encased La Negrita rum to the flocked wallpaper to the pear or pears at far right. Even the dotted vessel at center seems full of energy. Only the uncanny shadow of a bottle on the back wall casts a disquieting note.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (verso): Picasso / Paris 1915 [according to Daix and Rosselet 1979; now concealed by relining]
[Galerie L’Effort Moderne (Léonce Rosenberg), Paris, by March 1918–20; inv. no. 5509, photo no. 120; sold on November 11, 1920, as "Nature morte," for Fr 20,000, to Quinn]; John Quinn, New York (1920–d. 1924; his estate, New York, from 1924); Earl Horter, Philadelphia (by 1929/30–34; sold in early 1934, through Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, to Janowitz); Sidney Janowitz (later Sidney Janis), New York (1934–50; sold in 1950 to Block); Leigh B. and Mary Block, Chicago (1950–81; sold in May 1981 to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (1981–2025; his gift to MMA)
Arts Club of Chicago. "Exhibition of the Sidney Janis Collection of Modern Paintings," April 5–24, 1935, no. 5 (as "Vive La France").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Summer Exhibition: The Museum Collection and a Private Collection on Loan," June 4–September 24, 1935, no catalogue.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," November 15, 1939–January 7, 1940, no. 122 (as "Still Life: 'Vive la . . . ,'" 1914).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," February 1–March 5, 1940, no. 122.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from New York Private Collections," July 2, 1946–September 22, 1946.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "5th Anniversary Exhibition," September 29–October 31, 1953, no. 46 (as "Vive la France").
New York. Saidenberg Gallery. "Picasso: An American Tribute. Cubism," April 25–May 12, 1962, no. 20 (as "Still Life with Playing Cards, Glasses and Bottle of Rum ['Vive la . . . ']").
Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. "100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block," May 4–June 11, 1967, no. 38 (as "Still Life: Vive la France").
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block," September 21–November 2, 1967, no. 38.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. "One Hundred European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block," February 2–April 14, 1968, no. 38.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Cubist Epoch," December 15, 1970–February 21, 1971, no. 247 (as "Vive La France," 1914).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Cubist Epoch," April 9–June 7, 1971, no. 247.
New York. Sidney Janis Gallery. "25 Years of Janis: From Picasso to Dubuffet, from Brancusi to Giacometti," October 2–November 3, 1973, no. 94 (as "Vive La France").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective," May 22–September 16, 1980, unnumbered cat. (p. 176).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," September 24, 1989–January 16, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 332).
Kunstmuseum und Kunsthalle Basel. "Transform: BildObjektSkulptur im 20. Jahrhundert," June 14–September 27, 1992, no. 32.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection," March 7–May 16, 1999, unnumbered cat. (pl. 46).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 78.
Centre Pompidou, Paris, Galerie 1. "Le Cubisme," October 17, 2018–February 25, 2019, unnumbered cat. (p. 211; as "Cartes à jouer, verres, bouteille de rhum 'Vive La France'”).
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Kosmos Kubismus: Von Picasso bis Léger / The Cubist Cosmos. From Picasso to Léger," March 30–August 4, 2019, extended to August 18, 2019, unnumbered cat. (p. 211; as "Stilleben mit Spielkarten, Gläsern und Rumflasche ['Vive La France'] / Still Life with Cards, Glasses, and Bottle of Rum: 'Vive La France'".
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism and the Trompe l'Oeil Tradition," October 17, 2022–January 22, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 97).
Maurice Raynal. Pablo Picasso. Paris, 1920, unpaginated (list of plates), pl. 13, as "Nature morte," 1915.
Bulletin de “L’Effort Moderne” no. 28 (October 1926), ill., as "Nature-morte," 1915.
[Amédée] Ozenfant. Art. [English ed., 1931]. Paris, 1928, ill. p. 92, as 1915–16.
André Breton. Le Surréalisme et la peinture. Paris, 1928, p. 19.
Christian Zervos. "De l’importance de l’objet dans la peinture d’aujourd’hui (III)." Cahiers d’Art 5 (1930), ill. p. 237, as "Composition," 1912.
Amédée Ozenfant. Foundations of Modern Art. New York, 1931, ill. p. 87, as 1915–16.
Georges Hugnet. "Picasso ou la peinture au XXe siècle." Cahiers d’Art 7 (1932), ill. p. 122, as "Composition," 1914.
Pablo Picasso. Exh. cat., Wadsworth Atheneum. Hartford, 1934, unpaginated, no. 27, ill.
Harriet Janis. Exhibition of the Sidney Janis Collection of Modern Paintings. Exh. cat., Arts Club of Chicago. Chicago, 1935, unpaginated, no. 5.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Picasso: Forty Years of His Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1939, p. 87, no. 122, ill. p. 87.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 2b, Works from 1912 to 1917. Paris, 1942, unpaginated (list of plates), no. 523, pl. 240, as summer 1914.
Paintings from New York Private Collections. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1946, p. 6, calls it "Still Life: 'Vive la….'".
5th Anniversary Exhibition. Exh. cat., Sidney Janis Gallery. New York, 1953, unpaginated, no. 46, ill.
Sidney Geist. "The First Five Years, or Janis Shows a Picture." Arts Magazine 28 (October 1953), p. 17, as "Vive La France".
Wilhelm Boeck and Jaime Sabartés. Picasso. New York, 1955, pp. 152, 170, 491, no. 134, ill. p. 155 (French ed., pp. 152, 177, 490, no. 134, ill. p. 155; German ed., pp. 152, 169, 490, no. 134, ill. p. 155), as "Vive la France," 1914.
Frank Elgar. "Une conquête du Cubisme: Le papier collé." XXe Siècle no. 6 (January 1956), p. 14, as "Vive la France," 1914.
John Richardson, ed. Picasso: An American Tribute. Exh. cat., Saidenberg Gallery. New York, 1962, unpaginated, no. 20, ill.
Hans Ludwig C. Jaffé. Pablo Picasso. New York, 1964, p. 98, ill. p. 99, as "Vive la France," 1914.
André Breton. Le Surréalisme et la peinture. New and rev. ed. (1st ed., 1928). Paris, 1965, p. 6.
100 European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1967, unpaginated, no. 38, ill.
André Fermigier. "La révolution cubiste." Picasso. Ed. André Fermigier. Paris, 1967, p. 106, as "Vive la France," summer 1914.
H. H. Arnason. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, [1968], p. 326, fig. 522, as "Vive La France," 1914.
100 European Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, 1968, unpaginated, no. 38, ill.
André Fermigier. Picasso. Paris, 1969, p. 110, as "Vive la France," summer 1914.
Francine du Plessix. "The Flawless Eye: Mary and Leigh Block." The Collector in America. Ed. Jean Lipman. New York, 1970, p. 112, ill. p. 113 (on display in the residence of Leigh B. and Mary Block, Chicago), as "Vive La France".
Douglas Cooper. The Cubist Epoch. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. London, 1970, pp. 210, 303, no. 247, pl. 243.
Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino. L'opera completa di Picasso cubista. Milan, 1972, p. 119, no. 675, ill. p. 120, as "Vive la France," 1914.
André Breton. Surrealism and Painting. New York, 1972, p. 7.
Twenty-five Years of Janis. Pt. 1, From Picasso to Dubuffet; from Brancusi to Giacometti. Exh. cat., Sidney Janis Gallery. New York, 1973, unpaginated, no. 94, ill.
Winthrop Judkins. Fluctuant Representation in Synthetic Cubism: Picasso, Braque, Gris, 1910–1920. PhD diss., Harvard University. New York, 1976, pp. 143, 149, 168, 173, 320, 332, no. Z-P 12-17, pl. 523, ill. p. 384, as 1914.
H. H. Arnason. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Rev. and enl. ed. New York, 1977, p. 334, fig. 531, as "Vive La France," 1914.
Françoise Cachin and Fiorella Minervino. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Picasso, 1907–1916. Paris, 1977, p. 119, no. 675, ill. p. 120, as 1914.
Pierre Daix and Joan Rosselet. Picasso, The Cubist Years, 1907–1916: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings and Related Works. 2nd ed. [1st ed., 1979, French]. Boston, 1979, pp. 160, 337, no. 782, ill.
André Breton. Le Surréalisme et la peinture. Rev. ed. Paris, 1979, p. 6.
Mary Mathews Gedo. Picasso: Art as Autobiography. Chicago, 1980, p. 104, pl. 5, as "Vive la France," 1914.
William Rubin, ed. Pablo Picasso: A Retrospective. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1980, p. 178, ill. p. 176.
Roland Penrose. Picasso: His Life and His Work. 3rd ed. (1st ed., 1958). Berkeley, 1981, pp. xiii, 194, pl. VIII, no. 4, as "Vive la France".
Christopher Green. Cubism and Its Enemies: Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916–1928. New Haven, 1987, p. 255, pl. 259.
Hans Ludwig C. Jaffé. Pablo Picasso. Concise ed. London, 1988, p. 80, ill. p. 81, as "Vive la France," 1914.
William Rubin, ed. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, ill. p. 332 (German ed., 1990, fig. 427; French ed., 1990, and Spanish ed., 1991, ill. p. 326).
Kenneth E. Silver. Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War, 1914–1925. Princeton, 1989, p. 36, fig. 17.
Leo J. O'Donovan. "To Find Originality." America 161, no. 13 (November 4, 1989), p. 300.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso: Cubism, 1907–1917. New York, 1990, pp. 420, 520, no. 1256, ill. p. 422, as "Bottle of 'Negrita' Rum".
Sarah Gossa Kaiser inTransform: BildObjektSkulptur im 20. Jahrhundert. Ed. Theodora Vischer. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel and Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1992, p. 48, ill. p. 41.
Theodora Vischer, ed. Transform: BildObjektSkulptur im 20. Jahrhundert. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel and Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1992, p. 215, no. 32.
Pierre Cabanne. Le siècle de Picasso. Vol. 2, L'époque des métamorphoses (1912–1937). Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1975). Paris, 1992, p. 441.
Christian Geelhaar. Picasso: Wegbereiter und Förderer seines Aufstiegs, 1899–1939. Zürich, 1993, p. 204, fig. 224.
Richard Cork. A Bitter Truth: Avant-Garde Art and the Great War. New Haven and London, 1994, p. 59, colorpl. 52.
John Richardson with the collaboration of Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 2, 1907–1917. New York, 1996, p. 350, ill. p. 351.
Rosalind E. Krauss. The Picasso Papers. New York, 1998, pp. xv, 191, fig. 63.
Innis Howe Shoemaker, with Christa Clarke, and William Wierzbowski. Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1999, pp. 38 [erroneously identified as this work], 52, 62–63 nn. 182, 206, p. 181, ill. p. 12, fig. 2 (on display in the residence of Earl Horter, Philadelphia, ca. 1929–30), pl. 46.
Brigitte Leal, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. The Ultimate Picasso. New York, 2000, pp. 178, 511, fig. 402.
Elizabeth Cowling. Picasso: Style and Meaning. London, 2002, p. 279, fig. 238.
André Breton. Surrealism and Painting. (1st ed., Paris, 1928). Boston, 2002, p. 7.
Siegfried Gohr. Pablo Picasso: Leben und Werk; "Ich suche nicht, ich finde". Cologne, 2006, pp. 80–81, ill., as "Vive la France".
Matthew Affron. Fernand Léger: Contrasts of Forms. Exh. cat., University of Virginia Art Museum. Charlottesville, 2007, p. 10, fig. 1.
"Objects Promised to the Museum during the Year 2012–2013." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, One Hundred Forty-third Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013 (2013), p. 47.
Rebecca Rabinow inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 170.
Kenneth E. Silver inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 180, 185–86, 316(4)n.22, p. 317(2)n.32, (3)n.38, no. 78, ill. p. 183 (color).
Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 300–301, fig. 78 (on display in the residence of Leigh B. and Mary Block, Chicago, ca. 1970).
Emily Braun and Leonard A. Lauder inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 9, fig. 7 (on display in the residence of Leonard A. Lauder, New York, 1987).
"The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection: A Conversation with Emily Braun and Pepe Karmel." IFAR Journal 16, no. 3 (2015), fig. 33 (on display at the Lauder residence, New York, 2014).
Elizabeth Cowling inPicasso: The Great War Experimentation, and Change. Exh. cat.New York, 2016, pp. 29–31, 33.
Patricia Leighten inPicasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 2016, p. 149 n. 7, ill. p. 138 (color).
Neil Cox in Christopher Green , with a contribution by Neil Cox. Cubism and War: The Crystal in the Flame. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 2016, p. 78.
Jose Segal. "Positive and Negative Integration: The First World War in France and Germany." Art and Politics: Between Purity and Propaganda. Amsterdam, 2016, pp. 17–18.
Christopher Green in Christopher Green , with a contribution by Neil Cox. Cubism and War: The Crystal in the Flame. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 2016, p. 26.
Vérane Tasseau. "Lauder (Leonard A.)." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 405.
Elizabeth Cowling. "Papiers peints." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 565.
Brigitte Leal, Christian Briend, and Ariane Coulondre, ed. Le Cubisme. Exh. cat., Centre Pompidou, Galerie 1. Paris, 2018, p. 316, ill. p. 211 (color).
Brigitte Leal. "Charles Ratton (galerie)." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 153, as 1914.
Christopher Green. "Guerre (1914-1918): ses conséquences sur le cubisme." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 338.
Brigitte Leal, Christian Briend, and Ariane Coulondre, ed. The Cubist Cosmos: From Picasso to Léger. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Munich, 2019, p. 316, ill. p. 211 (color) [German ed., Munich, 2019].
Emily Braun in Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling. Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2022, pp. 28, 159, 248, colorpl. 97.
Elizabeth Cowling in Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling. Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2022, p. 179.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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