Pablo Picasso
Still Life
1924
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Pablo Picasso
Still Life
1924
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 15 × 18 in. (38.1 × 45.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.348
Initially inspired by Paul Cézanne's innovative treatment of form and space, in the early years of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso, together with his contemporary Georges Braque, began to break down and analyze objects, fragmenting forms shown from several viewpoints in a flattened space. This early style, referred to as Analytic Cubism, was largely monochromatic with subtle grays, blues, and browns predominating.
A second, more decorative phase called Synthetic Cubism followed, in which color reappeared, as seen in this subtle still life from 1924. Various objects—a compote dish, fruit, cutlery—are seen in flattened, simplified forms, which match the two-dimensional space that surrounds them.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1951; Saidie A. May, 1927; Galerie Vavin-Raspail, Paris
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern paintings and Sculpture", March 17- April 16, 1950, cat. 90.
BMA, "Saidie A. May Collection", September 6-October 22, 1972.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism From the Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone", Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler, February 8-April 21, 2002, no. 39 pp. 20.
Sona Johnston, BMA organized, "The Art of Still Life from The Baltimore Museum of Art", circulated to The Academy Art Museum, Easton, August 3-October 6, 2007; and Mitchell Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, August 25, 2010-October 10, 2010.
National Gallery of Australia, "Matisse and Picasso", December 15, 2019-April 13, 2020.
BMA, "Saidie A. May Collection", September 6-October 22, 1972.
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism From the Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone", Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler, February 8-April 21, 2002, no. 39 pp. 20.
Sona Johnston, BMA organized, "The Art of Still Life from The Baltimore Museum of Art", circulated to The Academy Art Museum, Easton, August 3-October 6, 2007; and Mitchell Gallery, St. John's College, Annapolis, August 25, 2010-October 10, 2010.
National Gallery of Australia, "Matisse and Picasso", December 15, 2019-April 13, 2020.
Christian Zervos, "Pablo Picasso," Vol. 5 p. 105 plate 214.
Christian Zervos, "De L'Importance de l'objet d'aujourd'hui (III)," "Chaiers d'Art," no. 6 (1930) pp. 281 - 294, ill. plate 290 (captioned, "Pommes et Bananes").
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 90, p. 21.
Kinsman, Jane. Matisse and Picasso. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2019, ill.
