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The Old Guitarist

Painting, mostly in shades of blue, of a thin, bent, older man wearing ragged clothes and sitting cross-legged playing a guitar positioned upright in his lap.
© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Painting, mostly in shades of blue, of a thin, bent, older man wearing ragged clothes and sitting cross-legged playing a guitar positioned upright in his lap.

Date:

late 1903–early 1904

Artist:

Pablo Picasso
Spanish, active France, 1881–1973

About this artwork

Pablo Picasso made The Old Guitarist while working in Barcelona. In the paintings of his Blue Period (1901-04), the artist restricted himself to a cold, monochromatic blue palette, flattened forms, and emotional, psychological themes of human misery and alienation related to the work of such artists as Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin. The elongated, angular figure of the blind musician also relates to Picasso’s interest in Spanish art and, in particular, the great 16th-century artist El Greco. The image reflects the twenty-two-year-old Picasso’s personal struggle and sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden; he knew what it was like to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902.

Status

On View, Gallery 391

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Title

The Old Guitarist

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1903–1904

Medium

Oil on panel

Inscriptions

signed, l.r.: "Picasso"

Dimensions

122.9 × 82.6 cm (48 3/8 × 32 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection

Reference Number

1926.253

Copyright

© 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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