Name: Le repas frugal
Brand: Pablo Picasso

Le repas frugal

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About the Item

In 1904 Pablo Picasso moved from Spain to Paris for good. While still in Spain, he produced a single print (Geiser, No. 1). With his move to Paris, he began his print oeuvre and succeeded in creating one of his most important and outstanding works with his first etching, Le repas frugal. It laid the foundation for the most important print oeuvre of the 20th century. This iconic image, completed by Picasso at the age of only 23, marks the beginning of Picasso's unparalleled career as a printmaker. The sense of despair and isolation is typical of his work at this time, reflecting his own circumstances. His time in Spain, especially in Barcelona, was already marked by deprivation and poverty. When Picasso finally moved to Paris in 1904, his situation did not improve, but became even worse at times. He shared this fate with many fellow artists, some of whom, like Picasso, had their small studio flat in the now legendary Bateau-Lavoir. The couple depicted in the etching "Le repas frugal", sitting at a table with a bottle of wine and some bread, embodies the living conditions of poverty, hunger and also alcoholism in a harrowing realism. The couple is united by touch, but they still turn away from each other and the melancholic impression of despair and loneliness prevails. The woman is probably Picasso's mistress at the time, Madeleine, who often posed for him. The identity of the blind man has not been clarified, but he appears in various works by Picasso from 1903 onwards, especially in the large painting Le Repas de l'aveugle (1903), which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The elegance of the almost mannerist portraits allows Picasso's admiration for the art of El Greco to shine through. The etching, which was executed in only two states, shows Picasso's confidence in handling the medium and this despite the fact that he had never received any training in printmaking. Only his friend and Spanish compatriot Ricard Canals had given him rudimentary knowledge. The series of 15 etchings and drypoint works, later subsumed by Vollard under the title Saltimbanque-Suite, first printed individually and in very few prints from the unsteeled plates, were all made between 1904 and 1906. They were printed at the artist's request by Delâtre and sold through Picasso himself or through the publisher Sagot. In 1913, the gallery owner Ambroise Vollard bought all the plates, had them stiffened and published the series "La suite des saltimbanques" (among others with "Le repas fresco", "Le repas frugal", "Les pauvres", "Les deux saltimbanques" or "La toilette de la mére", among others) in a unique, unsigned edition of 27 or 29 prints on Japan, to which the present work belongs, and 250 copies on Van Gelder-Velin. After printing the edition, all plates were crossed out. "Le repas frugal" is still considered one of Picasso's most accomplished graphic works and is regarded as the last masterpiece of his Blue Period.

Creator:
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973, Spanish)
Creation Year:
1904
Dimensions:
Height: 22.68 in (57.6 cm)Width: 17.49 in (44.4 cm)
Medium:
Etching
Period:
1900-1909
Condition:
Gallery Location:
München, DE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1867211323782