巴布羅 · 畢加索

私人收藏，科隆（1910年購自畫家）
私人收藏，科隆（1929年購自上述藏家；售出：倫敦蘇富比，1959年11月25日，拍品編號61）
諾德勒畫廊，倫敦及紐約（購自上述拍賣）
瓊·惠特尼·佩森，曼哈塞特，紐約（購自上述來源）
私人收藏，美國（家族傳承自上述藏家；售出：紐約蘇富比，2007年5月8日，拍品編號21）
購自上述拍賣

科隆藝術協會，〈科隆私人收藏二十世紀畫作〉，1957年，品號99（誤錄為油彩畫布）

波特蘭，緬因，威斯布魯克學院，瓊·惠特尼·佩森美術館，1977-92年（延伸借展）

京都市美術館及東京伊勢丹美術館，〈瓊·惠特尼·佩森收藏：從戈雅至威思〉，1980年，品號65

巴塞隆納，畢加索博物館及伯恩藝術館，〈畢加索1905-1906年〉，1992年，品號27，圖錄載彩圖

西棕櫚灘，諾頓美術館，〈巴布羅·畢加索：視野〉，1994年，品號6

波士頓美術館及華盛頓國家藝廊，〈畢加索：早年：1892-1906年〉，1997-98年，品號123，圖錄載彩圖（僅於波士頓展出）

波特蘭，緬因，美術館（定期借展）

沃特維爾，緬因，科爾比學院（定期借展）

波特蘭，緬因，美術館，〈畢加索的人類視覺〉，1999年

東京國立西洋美術館，〈畢加索的兒童世界〉，2000年

巴塞隆納，畢加索博物館及馬蒂尼，皮耶·吉雅納達基金會，〈畢加索與馬戲團〉，2006-07年，品號50，圖錄載彩圖

加耶·努諾及胡安·安東尼奧，《畢加索》，巴塞隆納，1950年， 13頁提及

威廉·伯克及傑米·薩巴特，《畢加索》，紐約，1955年， 132頁

克里斯蒂安·澤爾沃斯，《巴布羅·畢加索》，巴黎，1957年，冊I，品號244，圖版109

安東尼·布朗特爵士及菲比·保萊，《畢加索：建構時期》，倫敦，1962年，品號138

皮耶·戴克斯及喬治·本德耶，《畢加索1900-1906年：油畫專題目錄》，納沙泰爾，1966年，品號XII.11， 260頁載圖

弗朗索瓦·達爾特，「緬因新博物館」，《視覺》，巴黎，1978年10月， 51頁載圖

何塞普·帕勞·艾·法布爾，《畢加索活躍時期（1881-1907年）》，巴塞隆納，1980年，品號1034， 401頁載圖

何塞普·帕勞·艾·法布爾，《畢加索：早年：1881-1907年》，巴塞隆納，1985年，品號1034， 401頁載圖

Famille d’arlequin is an exquisite example of Picasso’s celebrated Rose period, which was dominated by images of family groups. During this time, the artist was fascinated by harlequins, acrobats, actors and circus performers, and his depictions of these characters and their families culminated in the monumental La Famille de saltimbanques. These family groups are often accompanied by an animal, such as a monkey or a dog, and feature the harlequin wearing the characteristic lozenge pattern costume and hat. The society outcasts such as circus performers had a particular resonance with the young Picasso, who saw in them a symbol of human suffering, particularly the suffering of the artist. While throughout his work most of his harlequins are depicted as lonely, melancholy figures, in Famille d’Arlequin the prevailing mood is one of tenderness and satisfaction of domestic life.

Discussing the genesis of the harlequin figure in Picasso’s work, E. A. Carmean observed that “the end of the nineteenth century saw a cross-current in both literature and painting flowing between the circus performer, the saltimbanque proper, and the traditional commedia figure. It is this interaction which Picasso confronted upon his arrival in Paris in 1900” (E. A. Carmean in Picasso. The Saltimbanques (exhibition catalogue), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, p. 25). During his Blue period, Picasso executed several works on this theme, depicting the harlequins in the same melancholy mood that marked his art during this time. His 1904-05 renderings of this subject can be seen as an extension of his Blue period work, in its exploration of the theme of the poor, the marginalized members of society, of which these circus performers, with their peripatetic life-style, were a perfect example.

However, the prevailing mood of Famille d’arlequin and related works is not that of melancholy, and here Picasso introduced a new atmosphere of warmth and family closeness that was not seen in his earlier work. Rather than representing the family in a bare, metaphysical landscape, as in the large oil La Famille de saltimbanques, in the present work he depicts them in a warmer indoor setting. A sense of tenderness is amplified by the intimate interaction of all three family members, and was probably inspired by new circumstances in Picasso’s own life, namely his relationship with Fernande Olivier. Discussing the present work in the context of the other works on this theme, Núria Rivero and Teresa Llorens commented: “Within these variations, the present Harlequin’s family is an exception, given that it is the only scene in which Harlequin, who kisses and caresses the child, plays an active part, while [in] the rest he is a passive figure, normally a spectator of the games and the intimacy between mother and child. Only in some ‘fatherhoods’, such as in the watercolor Jester and saltimbanques, do we again find the tender and playful gesture of the father towards his son” (N. Rivero & T. Llorens in Picasso 1905-1906 (exhibition catalogue), Op. cit., p. 146).  

Of all the fabled personae in Picasso’s repertoire, the harlequin is his most poignant. This figure, traditionally associated with the theater of the Italian seventeenth century Commedia dell'Arte, came to be known in the twentieth century as the symbol of Picasso's art. He would appear recurrently throughout the artist's career as a central character, such as in his stage set  designs after the war, or as a vehicle for artistic expression in the highly geometricized Cubist constructions of the 1910s. At the end of his life Picasso would resurrect the harlequin in the form of a musketeer, symbolizing the beginning of his artistic expression and the creative force behind his entire production. Picasso personally identified with the persona of the harlequin, believing his unquenchable lust for life and whimsy to be much like his own. In 1905, an adult version of the harlequin at a night café appeared in Picasso's Au Lapin Agile; the figure was understood to be a thinly-veiled self-portrait, signifying the artist's coming of age in Bohemian Paris, and Picasso continued to paint him with a striking resemblance to his own image. 

The harlequins that figure in Picasso's work between 1904-06 are alternately portrayed among the acrobats of a travelling circus, as in Les Saltimbanques, on their own, or, more rarely and as in the present work, in a convivial atmosphere of familial tranquility. This soulful composition signaled a shift in Picasso's art and led the way to the atmospheric compositions that have come to define the Rose period. Picasso’s Rose period has always been admired for its melancholic charm and haunting poetry, contrasting with the deep gloom of the immediately preceding Blue period. In both instances, the source of inspiration was in the artist's immediate surroundings. At the time he completed Famille d’arlequin Picasso was living in the Bateau Lavoir in Montmartre, so named because of its resemblance to a Seine washing barge. When not working in his studio, he would meet his friends in inexpensive restaurants and cabarets nearby, such as Le Zut and Le Lapin Agile. The present picture was probably inspired by one of the many acrobats who could be found performing on the street in this lively neighborhood. Roland Penrose described this environment in Montmartre as “being a village within a city…was almost self-contained. Within a small distance a great variety of amusements and theatres were at hand. For some years the most popular place of entertainment was the Cirque Medrano, which to this day still continues to enchant successive generations of Parisians. Its clowns, acrobats and horses had delighted Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Forain, Seurat and many others. There, behind the scenes and outside among the sideshows of the fair that traditionally occupies the whole boulevard during the winter, Picasso made friends with the harlequins, jugglers and strolling players. Without their being conscious of it, they became his models” (R. Penrose, Picasso: His Life and Work, 1981, p. 110).

Picasso would return to the theme of harlequins after his journey to Italy, where he traveled in 1917 with Jean Cocteau, Léonide Massine and Sergei Diaghilev, with whom he was collaborating on Erik Satie’s ballet. In Naples and Pompeii they saw performances of Commedia dell’Arte, which revived Picasso’s interest in the subject of harlequins and circus performers and inspired a series of works executed in 1917-18.  Although he revisited this theme at various times throughout his long career, always with a fresh approach and stylistic innovations, he never rendered them with the same sense of tenderness and warmth of his 1905 works, of which Famille d’arlequin is an outstanding example.