Acrobat and Young Harlequin

Pablo Picasso, 1905

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About This Work

A young harlequin in his diamond-patterned costume stands beside a taller acrobat, the two figures rendered in the warm rose-pink tones of the Rose Period. The contrast between the child's small, vulnerable figure and the adult's larger presence creates a tender image of the circus world's mixture of innocence and experience. The figures' expressions are solemn and inward, suggesting a world of private thoughts.

This work belongs to the series of circus paintings that Picasso created in 1905, when he was a regular visitor to the Cirque Médrano in Paris. The circus performers — acrobats, harlequins, and saltimbanques — became his primary subjects during the Rose Period, replacing the destitute figures of the Blue Period.

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