Mandolin, Fruit Bowl, Bottle, and Cake by Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2008

Still Life with Mandolin and Galette
1924

Object Details

Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)

Date: 1924

Medium: Oil and sand on canvas

Dimensions: 38 1/2 x 51 1/2 in. (97.8 x 130.8 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998

Accession Number: 1999.363.65

This painting belongs to a series of large still lifes of the mid-1920s that derive from small watercolors first exhibited at the Paul Rosenberg gallery in Paris in 1919, immediately after the conclusion of World War I. The bottle of wine and the galette (a thin almond-paste tart with a crisscross crust) are set against an open window or balcony with a view of the blue sky beyond. Despite its somber palette, the picture evokes a relaxed Mediterranean ambience. Picasso anticipated that these large, decorative canvases would find buyers among Rosenberg's affluent clients.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/490021