Description

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.

Provenance

Ambroise Vollard (1867–1939), Paris, c. 1906, probably acquired directly from the artist [New York 2006]; sold through Carroll Galleries, New York, to John Quinn (1870–1924), New York, 1915 [Feb. 26, 1915 letter from John Quinn to Ambroise Vollard, and Memorandum of Pictures consigned to Carroll Galleries, Inc., John Quinn Collection, New York Public Library Manuscript Division, copies in curatorial object file]; Quinn Estate, 1924; sold through Felix Wildenstein, Art Centre auction, New York, to Paul Rosenberg (1881–1959), Paris, Jan. 9, 1926 [“52 Picasso Paintings Sold,” New York Times, Jan. 10, 1926, copy in curatorial object file]; sold through Joseph Stransky, The French Galleries, New York, to Frederic Clay Bartlett (1873–1953), Chicago, 1926 [May 21, 1927 letter from Frederic Clay Bartlett to Joseph Stransky and Nov. 17, 1975 letter from Alexandre Rosenberg to Courtney G. Donnell, copies in curatorial object file]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 30, 1926.