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View source →Painter and Model
Pablo Picasso, 1928
Technical Details
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
129.8 × 163 cm (51.1 × 64.2 in)
Style
Surrealism
Decade
1920s
About This Work
Painted in Paris in 1928, Painter and Model is a striking oil on canvas by Pablo Picasso measuring 129.8 by 163 centimeters, currently held in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. The composition presents an ambitious interior scene within the artist's studio, featuring bold, schematic planar configurations and a restrained, sophisticated palette of muted tones, blacks, and whites. Picasso distills the physical interaction and psychological tension between the creator and the subject into abstract, geometric forms. The artist's figure is rendered with stark, angular contours, confronting the canvas with purposeful intensity, while the model is depicted with characteristic anatomical distortion that reflects Picasso's engagement with Surrealist principles during this period. The spatial arrangement emphasizes flat planes over traditional perspective, creating a rigorous visual dialogue about the mechanics of representation, artistic vision, and the complex relationship inherent in studio portraiture.
During the late 1920s, Pablo Picasso was deeply immersed in the avant-garde milieu of Paris, maintaining close associations with the Surrealist circle led by André Breton. While Picasso never officially joined the Surrealist movement, his work from 1928 frequently explored subconscious themes, dreamlike distortions, and the metamorphosis of human anatomy. The theme of the artist and model became a central preoccupation for Picasso during this era, serving as a profound meta-artistic inquiry into creation, perception, and voyeurism. This painting was acquired from the artist in 1928 by the prominent Parisian dealer Paul Rosenberg, reflecting its immediate institutional and market significance. By 1933, the work entered the celebrated collection of Sidney and Harriet Janis in New York, where it remained until gifted to The Museum of Modern Art in 1967. Exhibited in major historical retrospectives, Painter and Model stands as a definitive monument to Picasso's interwar synthesis of Cubist structural rigor and Surrealist psychological intensity.
Current Location
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States
Public Collection — Open to visitors
Visit museum website →Collection record status
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Source-linked entry contains a provenance or acquisition statement; full ownership-chain claims remain limited to the cited institution.
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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
Keywords
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