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Bottle of Bass and Glass

Paris, spring 1914
Not on view
Picasso plays with expectations. What might normally be printed—the label on the bottle at center—is deliberately hand-drawn, while what is traditionally handwritten—the artist’s signature—is stenciled within the outline of a dog-eared calling card at lower right. A diagonal representing a shimmering ray of light separates the “B” from the “AS” and energizes the composition. Ostensibly, “BAS” stands for the popular British import Bass ale (to which Braque and Picasso clearly refer in other Cubist works), but here the “B” is depicted as if it were the liquid itself entering the glass. Meanwhile the remaining letters—“AS”—spell the French word for “ace,” which is precisely what Picasso depicts below.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bottle of Bass and Glass
  • Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
  • Date: Paris, spring 1914
  • Medium: Enamel and oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 13 × 9 5/8 in. (33 × 24.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2025
  • Object Number: 2025.616.4
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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