Pablo Picasso Pd Us 1901 Harlequin And His Companion (les Deux Saltimbanques)

Description

Pablo Picasso’s Harlequin and His Companion places two performers at a café table, their faces supported by their hands. The woman’s orange clothing contrasts with the Harlequin’s blue diamond-patterned costume, while the white tabletop and its glasses interrupt the deeper colors around them. Their shared setting brings the pair close without turning the scene into a lively exchange.

Painted in 1901, the work finds an inward mood within the outwardly theatrical world of costume. The figures’ bent arms and quiet faces form related shapes, giving their stillness more weight than the objects on the table. Blue and reddish background bands flatten the space around them, concentrating the picture on two people whose proximity suggests companionship while leaving each absorbed in a separate, unspoken interval.

Read our guide to giclée prints, browse more Pablo Picasso prints, or explore The Death of Harlequin.