Link nur auf Unterseiten benutzbar

This painting from the Von der Heydt Museum's collection is one of the earliest Cubist compositions in which Picasso, influenced by Cézanne's work, grouped several figures together. It was painted in the winter of 1908, the year in which Cubism was developed by Picasso and Braque. Groups of figures like this disappeared from Picasso's repertoire as Cubism developed. They were replaced by laconic landscapes, still lifes with musical instruments and single figures.

With the depiction of a family of harlequins, Picasso returned to a theme from his so-called 'blue and pink period' of around 1905. However, it is only thanks to our knowledge of earlier paintings that we can identify the figures as harlequins. The fusion of the figures with each other and with the surrounding space, the pointed and angular forms, the lack of depth and the simultaneity of several perspectives are typical characteristics of Cubism, which can also be found in some of Vlaminck's works, such as "Opium".