The Actor (painting)
The Actor | |
---|---|
Artist | Pablo Picasso |
Year | 1904 |
Medium | oil paint, canvas |
Movement | Picasso's Rose Period |
Dimensions | 196 cm (77 in) × 115 cm (45 in) |
Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
Identifiers | The Met object ID: 488690 |
Website | www |
The Actor (French: L'acteur) is an oil-on-canvas painting by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, created from 1904 to 1905.[1] The painting dates from the artist's Rose Period. It is housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Background
From 1901 until 1904, Picasso's work had been dominated by his melancholy Blue Period, which was defined by predominantly blue paintings of human suffering. The Actor illustrates a shift in Picasso's artistic approach, which was influenced by his meeting of his new partner, Fernande Olivier in 1904. Olivier's presence and influence on the tone, subject matter and palette of Picasso's artwork is notable in the sheet of studies that he created for The Actor around the time of New Year's Eve in 1904, which features two profiles of Olivier.[2]
Description
Picasso painted The Actor during the winter of 1904 to 1905 when he was 23 years old.[3] The painting is a work of the artist's Rose Period when he changed his painting style from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer and more romantic hues.[1] It portrays an acrobat in a dramatic pose with an abstract design in the background. The canvas measures 196 centimetres (77 in) by 115 centimetres (45 in).[1] Picasso painted The Actor on the reverse side of a landscape painting by another artist because he could not afford new canvases at the time.[3]
Significance and legacy
The Actor was produced at a transitional point in Picasso's artwork, when he became inspired by the lives of harlequins and saltimbanques. The Metropolitan Museum of Art summarises the importance of this painting in relation to his subsequent works about travelling circus performers.[2]
Simple yet haunting, The Actor is the work with which Picasso ended his obsession with the wretched in favor of the theatrical world of acrobats and saltimbanques. Although the attenuated figure and extraordinary play of hands recall the El Greco-inspired mannerism of the Blue Period, The Actor can be seen as the prologue to the series of works that culminates in the enormous canvas Family of Saltimbanques.
Ownership, legal case, and value
First owned by Picasso's friend
In 2016, the heir of the Leffmanns sued the Metropolitan Museum of Art in U.S. federal court, seeking the return of the painting on the ground that the Leffmans had sold it under
In 2010, experts estimated that the painting, which is one of the largest from Picasso's Rose Period, is worth more than US$100 million.[3]
Damage
The Actor was damaged on January 25, 2010, when a woman attending an
See also
External links
The Actor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
References
- ^ a b c d e f "New York woman falls, rips Picasso painting". Agence France-Presse. 2010-01-25. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
- ^ a b "The Actor 1904-5". The Met. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ a b c Vogel, Carol (2010-01-25). "Questions Over Fixing Torn Picasso". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
- ^ a b c "Pablo Picasso: The Actor". New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- ^ a b c d e Graham Bowley (October 1, 2016). "Met Picasso Belonged to Family That Fled Nazis, Suit Says". New York Times.
- ^ a b
- Zuckerman v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 307 F. Supp. 3d 304 (S.D.N.Y. 2018), aff'd, 928 F. 3d 186 (2d Cir. 2019).
- Judge rules against heir who wanted Met to return a Picasso, Associated Press (February 7, 2018).
- US Appeals Court Dismisses Ownership Claim over Picasso, Art Forum (June 27, 2019).