Description
In Portrait of the Poet Sabartés, also known as The Glass of Beer, Picasso places his friend close to the front of a small café table. Sabartés rests his chin on one hand, his dark clothing and lowered expression enclosed by a strongly blue background. The glass on the pale tabletop provides a simple counterpoint to the sitter’s stillness, an everyday object beside an apparently private train of thought.
The Pushkin Museum dates the portrait to 1901, at the beginning of Picasso’s Blue Period. Blue is more than a background color here: it establishes a cool atmosphere that joins the figure and surroundings. The contrast between the white table and the shadowed face sharpens the sense of isolation. This is a portrait built around attention and silence rather than an outward declaration of personality.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Pablo Picasso collection.
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