Image: Image reproduction rights managed by Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; institutional source link provided
View source →Pablo Picasso, 1909
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Framed: 100.3 x 83.5 x 7.3 cm (39 1/2 x 32 7/8 x 2 7/8 in.); Unframed: 81.3 x 64.2 cm (32 x 25 1/4 in.)
Style
Proto-Cubism
Decade
1900s
The official Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio record identifies Fan, Salt Box, Melon as a Pablo Picasso artwork, dated 1909, in oil on canvas. One of Pablo Picasso’s earliest Cubist paintings, this still life depicts a wooden salt box, a sliced melon in a crystal bowl, and a rumpled cloth resting on the table. A green fan is opened and propped against the wall, where it dissolves into faceted, geometric planes. While some objects are depicted from a frontal view, the table is tilted upright, as if seen from the ceiling, providing multiple simultaneous views of the scene, which became typical of Cubist works of art.
Fan, Salt Box, Melon is grouped here under African / Proto-Cubist Period for gallery navigation based on the date published by Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. This period label is interpretive context, not a replacement for the cited primary object record. The holding collection is documented by the cited institutional source.
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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If you love this african / proto-cubist period masterpiece, explore these curated books and resources on Amazon.
The Cubist Epoch by Douglas Cooper
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Picasso: A Life Documentary
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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Reproduction
High-quality print of this revolutionary proto-Cubist masterpiece
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