In connection with, or soon after, his first solo exhibition at the principal meeting place of the Barcelona avant-garde, the bohemian tavern Els Quatre Gats, Picasso made a set of small caricatures of the prominent members of the informal club. This self-portrait announces the eighteen-year-old as a mature artist working in a sophisticated Art Nouveau style.
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Inscription: Inscribed (upper left, in pen and brown ink): YO
Santiago Juliá, Barcelona (by 1955); C. Michael Paul, New York (until d. 1980); his sister, Dr. Raymonde Paul, New York (1980–82; her gift to MMA)
Barcelona. Els Quatre Gats. "Exhibitions of Drawings by Pablo Picasso," February 1900, no catalogue [possibly this picture].
Barcelona. Palacio de la Virreina y Museo de Arte Moderno. "III Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte: Forerunners and Masters of Contemporary Spanish Art," September 24–October 24, 1955, no. 22.
Kunstmuseum Bern. "Der Junge Picasso: Frühwerk und Blaue Periode," December 6, 1984–February 17, 1985, no. 84.
Charleroi. Palais des Beaux-Arts. "Picasso, Miró, Dalí: Évocations d'Espagne," September 24–December 22, 1985, no. 8.
Barcelona. Museu Picasso. "Picasso i els 4 Gats: La clau de la modernidad," November 1995–February 1996, no. 71.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Barcelona and Modernity: Picasso, Gaudí, Miró, Dalí," October 15, 2006–January 7, 2007, no. 3:11.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí," March 7–June 3, 2007, no. 3:11.
Amsterdam. Van Gogh Museum. "Barcelona 1900," September 21, 2007–January 20, 2008, unnumbered cat. (p.146).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "XS," December 6, 2011–April 15, 2012, no catalogue.
New York. Gagosian. "A Foreigner Called Picasso," November 10, 2023–February 10, 2024, unnumbered cat. (p. 39).
Rodriguez Codolà. "Els IV Gats: Exposicion Ruiz Picazzo [sic]." La Vanguardia (February 3, 1900), (2006 ed., pp. 265–66).
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso en Cataluña. Barcelona, 1966, pp. 67, 238, fig. 32.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 21, Supplément aux anneés 1892-1902. Paris, 1969, p. 44, no. 109, ill.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso por Picasso. Barcelona, 1970, pp. 42–43, 161, no. 11, ill.
Jane Fluegel inPablo Picasso: A Retrospective. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1980, p. 19, fig.d.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso, Barcelona, Catalunya. Barcelona, 1981, p. 23, ill.
Josep Palau i Fabre. Picasso: The Early Years, 1881–1907. New York, 1981, pp. 190, 529, no. 427, ill.
Lisa Messinger. "Picasso Portrait Drawings: Barcelona 1899–1900." Drawing: The International Review published by the Drawing Society 8 (November 1986), pp. 73–75, fig.1.
John Richardson with the collaboration of Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 1, 1881–1906. New York, 1991, p. 148, ill.
"Lives of the Artists: Strong Gazing." Economist (October 26, 1991), p. 148, ill.
Kirk Varnedoe inPicasso and Portraiture: Representation and Transformation. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1996, p. 120, ill.
Brigitte Leal, Christine Piot, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. The Ultimate Picasso. New York, 2000, pp. 38, 502, fig.47.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 8.
Magdalena Dabrowski inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 16–18, no. 1, ill. (color).
Rachel Mustalish inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 18.
Ester Baron Borràs. "La Modern Catalan Painting: una exposició itinerant de pintura catalana moderna als Estats Units (1931–1933). La presentació de Picasso com a artista català." Locus Amoenus 19 (2021), p. 230.
Pascal Bonafoux. Picasso: The Self-Portraits. New York, 2023, pp. 20, 26, 56, 207, colorpl. 23, calls it "Yo".
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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