In the spring of 1909, Pablo Picasso stood at one of the most decisive moments of his career. No longer content with depicting the visible world as it appeared, he began reimagining what painting itself could be. Created during this extraordinary period, Arlequin captures the artist between the rupture of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and the emergence of full Analytical Cubism—a work suspended between representation and reinvention.
Influenced by Paul Cézanne yet unmistakably his own, Picasso compresses form, fractures perspective, and transforms the familiar Harlequin figure into a laboratory of modern vision. With its distinguished provenance and profound historical importance, Arlequin is more than a masterpiece—it is a witness to the instant when influence became revolution.
Picasso’s Arlequin (Buste) will be offered in the Modern Evening Auction, presented by CELINE, as part of The Collection of Adele & Enrico Donati on 19 May in New York at the historic Breuer building.
