Picasso painted this self-portrait after spending the summer of 1906 in Gósol, a small village in the Spanish Pyrenees. The stay has become synonymous with a decisive new direction in his style, one that moved toward simplified forms with a decidedly archaic and sculptural appearance. This work, painted as the artist turned twenty-five (about the same time he completed his portrait of Gertrude Stein, MMA 47.106), was followed immediately by his large Self‑Portrait with Palette (Philadelphia Museum of Art), perhaps a pendant to Gertrude Stein.
Leo and Gertrude Stein, Paris (acquired from the artist, ca. 1906–13/14); Gertrude Stein, Paris (ca. 1913/14–d. 1946; her estate, 1946–68; sold on December 14, 1968, to Meyer); André Meyer, New York (1968–80; his sale, "Highly Important Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from The André Meyer Collection," Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, October 22, 1980, no. 33, to Sandra Canning Kasper, New York, as agent for Tescher); Lynn Epstein Tescher (Mrs. Martin Tescher), New York (1980–86; sold on May 7, 1986, through the same agent, to Gelman); Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," December 19, 1970–March 1, 1971, unnumbered cat. (p. 168; as "Head of a Young Man," lent by André Meyer).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," April 4–June 13, 1971, unnumbered cat. (p. 23; as "Head of a Young Man," lent by André Meyer, New York).
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "Gertrude Stein and Picasso and Juan Gris," June 25–August 15, 1971, no. 8.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," September 9–October 31, 1971, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 99).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 123).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso the Engraver: Selections from the Musée Picasso, Paris," September 18–December 21, 1997, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 65).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 126.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat. (pp. 250–51).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 39.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," May 21–September 6, 2011, no. 239.
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso . . . L'aventure des Stein," October 5, 2011–January 22, 2012, no. 40.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," February 28–June 3, 2012, no. 239.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 1, Works from 1895 to 1906. Paris, 1932, p. 177, no. 371, ill.
Per-Olov Zennström. Pablo Picasso. Stockholm, 1948, ill. facing p. 64, fig. 13.
Denys Sutton. Picasso, Peintures: Époques bleue et rose. 2nd ed. (1st ed., 1948). Paris, 1955, no. 52, ill.
Frank Elgar and Robert Maillard. Picasso: Étude de l'oeuvre. Paris, 1955, pp. 36, 42, 47, ill.
Frank Elgar and Robert Maillard. Picasso: A Study of His Work. New York, 1956, pp. 25, 51, ill.
Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Picasso: A Pictorial Biography. New York, 1959, pp. 43, 135, ill.
Anthony Blunt and Phoebe Pool. Picasso, the Formative Years: A Study of His Sources. London, 1962, p. 27.
Pierre Daix and Georges Boudaille. Picasso: The Blue and Rose Periods: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, 1900–1906. Greenwich, Conn., 1967, p. 327, no. XVI.27, ill.
William Rubin inLes Demoiselles d'Avignon. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 1988, vol. 2, pp. 496–97, fig. 8.
Richard Lombard, ed. "The Portrait of Gertrude Stein." The Column (MMA) 4 (January–February 1990), p. 4, ill.
Carsten-Peter Warncke. Pablo Picasso, 1881–1973. Ed. Ingo F. Walther. Vol. 1, The Works 1890–1936. Cologne, 1995, ill. p. 145 (color).
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "20th Century Art Treasures Are Left to Met." New York Times (May 6, 1998), pp. A1, B6, ill.
Andrew Decker. "Metropolitan: Une Exceptionnelle donation." Beaux Arts no. 170 (July 1998), ill. p. 24.
Roberta Smith. "In a Brash Yet Refined School, Everyone Belongs Together." New York Times (June 15, 2001), p. E37.
Anne Baldassari et al. Cubist Picasso. Exh. cat., Musée Picasso. Paris, 2007, p. 15 n. 26.
Gary Tinterow. "Treasured Paintings Travel from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the MFAH: Remarks Delivered at the Exhibition Opening Reception." The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Annual Report for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2006–June 30, 2007. Houston, 2007, p. 45, ill.
Scholastic Art 39 (March 2009), cover ill.
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. 3, fig. 16 (color, installation photo, Gelman apartment, 1989).
Sabine Rewald 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. 116–18, no. 39, ill. (color).
Holland Cotter. "All the Picassos in the Cupboard." New York Times (April 29, 2010), p. C25.
Lucy Belloli 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. 118.
Robert McD. Parker and Maxime Touillet inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pls. 354, 356, 383 (installation photos).
Robert McD. Parker inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pp. 430, 464, no. 239.
Cécile Debray inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, p. 224.
Hélène Klein inThe Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Ed. Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, pp. 247, 250 n. 30, pl. 198 (installation photo).
Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow, ed. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2011, p. 125, colorpl. 81.
Eduard Vallès inYo Picasso. Self-Portraits. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 2013, pp. 90, 92, no. 41, ill. pp. [10], 89 (color).
Pascal Bonafoux. Picasso: The Self-Portraits. New York, 2023, pp. 32–34, 211, , colorpl. 112.
Eugenio Carmona inPicasso 1906: The Turning Point. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 2024, p. 65.
Pablo Salazar inPicasso 1906: The Turning Point. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 2024, p. 78, no. 64.
The ninth-annual Women and the Critical Eye program featuring a conversation between Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow, who discuss Leonard Lauder's criteria for collecting, including the importance of the "aesthetic wow," rarity, state of conservation, and attention to a work's curriculum vitae.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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