Pablo Picasso Spanish, active France, 1881–1973
The Old Guitarist
late 1903–early 1904
Pablo Picasso's 'The Old Guitarist' (late 1903 – early 1904) is one of the defining works of his Blue Period. A bent, emaciated blind man hunches over a large brown guitar against an all-blue background, his elongated limbs and closed eyes drawn out of El Greco and Spanish mannerism. Painted during Picasso's years of extreme poverty in Madrid and Paris, it has been a centrepiece of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1926.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Art Institute of Chicago