Violin Hanging on a Wall

1912

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

Picasso based this composition on classic trompe l’oeil board paintings. In painting the pine wainscot, however, he simulated the stereotypical style of painter-decorators, artisans who created the convincing imitations of wood paneling that were ubiquitous in French interiors. Some planes forming the violin have the flatness of paper cutouts, but the overlaps, passages of tonal modeling, and addition of sand to the paint lend the instrument a physical presence similar to the cardboard-and-string constructions Picasso was making at this time. By depicting only one of its sides and varying the size of the f-holes, he indicated that it is pivoting on its hook, like the violin in Gijsbrechts’s nearby painting.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Violin Hanging on a Wall
Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
Date: 1912
Medium: Oil and sand on canvas
Dimensions: 25 9/16 × 18 1/8 in. (65 × 46 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Hermann und Margrit Rupf-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern (Ge 063)
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art