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Playing Cards, Glasses, Bottle of Rum: "Vive la France"

Avignon, summer 1914 / partially reworked, Paris, 1915
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 829
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Playing Cards, Glasses, Bottle of Rum: "Vive la France"
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: Avignon, summer 1914 / partially reworked, Paris, 1915
  • Medium: Oil and sand on canvas
  • Dimensions: 20 1/2 × 25 in. (52.1 × 63.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2025
  • Object Number: 2025.616.5
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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Bottle of Bass and Glass, Pablo Picasso Spanish, Enamel and oil on canvas
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Woman in a Chemise in an Armchair, Pablo Picasso Spanish, Oil on canvas
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