Harlequin with a guitar

Gris, Juan (1887-1927)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1917

Height:

100.3 cm  (39 1/2 in.)

Width:

65.1 cm  (25 5/8 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on panel

Description

Like many European artists before them, Cubists often depicted Harlequin, a stock character in the Italian commedia dell’arte, a form of masked theater dating back to the sixteenth century. Easily recognized in his checkered costume, Harlequin is a trickster with a tendency to act on whim and passion. For this reason, several modern artists adopted the character as an alter ego. Gris was particularly fond of the subject; he portrayed Harlequin in approximately forty works made between 1917 and 1925. In this painting, caricature softens the Cubist fracturing of the figure, while bands of light illuminate Harlequin’s costume. (Metropolitan Museum description)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Guitar [3237]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

RIdIM record id

4471