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View source →Sheet Music and Guitar
Pablo Picasso, 1921
Technical Details
Medium
Oil and modified oil on canvas
Dimensions
93 × 120 cm (36.6 × 47.2 in)
Style
Synthetic Cubism
Decade
1920s
About This Work
Sheet Music and Guitar is a striking still life painted by Pablo Picasso in Paris in 1921. Executed in oil and modified oil on canvas, the composition measures 93 by 120 centimeters and exemplifies the artist's sophisticated command of Synthetic Cubism. The canvas features a stringed musical instrument and black parallel lines representing sheet music, anchored by an oval tabletop and rectilinear base. Picasso combines precise line drawing with angular color fields to construct form out of flat planes, where stark black lines reinforce horizontality and unify the overall structure. A wide surrounding beige band adds spatial depth and locks the geometric elements into place. Subtle red undertones and ghosted traces of earlier forms appear beneath the white-painted areas. The clean separation of geometrical shapes and the uncluttered composition convey a purified visual harmony, bridging pre-war Cubist assemblages with post-war neoclassical rigor.
Painted in 1921, Sheet Music and Guitar was created just months before Picasso produced his monumental masterpiece Three Musicians. During this period, Picasso navigated between neoclassical portraiture influenced by Ingres and Raphael and the ongoing evolution of Synthetic Cubism. As art historian Robert Rosenblum noted, Picasso's lifelong engagement with still life connected him directly to Spanish visual traditions established by masters such as Sánchez Cotán and Meléndez. Through the deliberate choice of objects and rigorous geometry, Picasso asserted his continuing allegiance to his Spanish artistic heritage. The work reflects a pivotal post-war moment in Paris when avant-garde artists sought order and structural clarity following the disruptions of World War I. Today, the painting is part of the Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso collection in Madrid, frequently featured in international exhibitions celebrating Picasso's enduring reinvention of pictorial form and musical iconography.
Current Location
Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, Madrid, Spain
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Collection record status
Live institutional record fetched.
Holding collection documented; a full ownership chain is not asserted unless the cited institutional record provides one.
Image access: External source link or fallback.
Valuation & Provenance
2026 Estimated Value
Public collection / market value not asserted
* Estimates are based on comparable auction results and market analysis. Not a formal appraisal.
Last Known Sale
No public auction record — held in permanent museum collection
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