Art Print / Picasso / Three Musicians / 28 x 36 cm

This famous work, now on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art, is part of a series he painted with his young family in Fontaineblueau in the summer of 1921. It marks a return to highly synthetic Cubism and to his enduring Commedia dellArte imagination that he had begun in Paris in the early days. Through his wife and his work as a set and costume designer for Diaghilev, his connection to the sophisticated world of ballet is obvious.

Three Musicians is a large painting that is more than 2 meters wide and high. It is painted in the style of synthetic cubism and has the appearance of cut paper.

Picasso paints three musicians out of flat, brightly colored, abstract forms in a flat, boxy space. On the left stands a clarinetist, in the middle a guitarist and on the right a singer with sheet music in her hand. They are dressed like familiar figures: Pierrot in a blue and white suit, Harlequin in an orange and yellow diamond-shaped suit, and on the right a monk in a black robe. In front of Pierrot is a table with a pipe and other objects, while below him is a dog with its belly, legs and tail sticking out from behind the musician's legs. Like the boxy brown stage on which the three musicians perform, everything in this painting is made up of flat shapes. Behind each musician, the tan ground is in a different location and extends much farther to the left than to the right. The floor and flat walls framing the picture make the room crooked, but the musicians seem to stand firm. It's hard to tell where one musician starts and another ends, for the shapes they make intersect and overlap as if they were paper cutouts. Pierrot, the figure in blue and white, holds a clarinet in his hands; one hand is connected to a long, thin, black arm, while the other hand has no arm. Three Musicians emphasizes vibrant colors, angular shapes and flat patterns. Picasso said he was delighted when "Gertrude Stein joyously announced... that she had finally understood what... the three musicians were meant to be. It was a still life!"

Image format: 23 x 25 cm
Sheet format: 28 x 36 cm

Without frame - picture is delivered in a sturdy cardboard box.