Pablo Picasso
Le rameur [The Rower]

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Artist Pablo Picasso(Spanish, 1881–1973)Spanish, 1881–1973

CultureSpanish

Titles

Le rameur [The Rower]

Date1910

PlaceFrance

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 72 1/8 × 59 11/16 × 1 7/8 in. (183.2 × 151.6 × 4.8 cm)
Frame (outer): 40 1/8 × 35 1/4 in. (101.9 × 89.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Oveta Culp Hobby; Isaac and Agnes Cullen Arnold; Charles E. Marsh; Mrs. William Stamps Farish; and the Robert Lee Blaffer Memorial Collection, gift of Sarah Campbell Blaffer, all by exchange; and the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment

Object number81.29

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 203

Exposé

Explore Further

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionThe Rower belongs to the first stage of
Pablo Picasso’s exploration of the paradoxical
relationships among illusion, art, and reality.
Working closely with Georges Braque, he
rejected the idea that art should mirror nature,
creating a new pictorial language—later
dubbed Analytic Cubism—through a fracturing of form and space. During this period,
Picasso deliberately limited his palette to
brown, gray, and black tones; the figure is
rendered through a cascading series of faceted
planes and angles, with white brushstrokes
suggesting the play of light.

ProvenanceAmbroise Vollard, Paris; [509 Gallery, New York]; Earl Horter, Philadelphia, 1930s; [Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, January 1942]; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Colin, New York, November 15, 1943; Private collection, New York; [E.V. Thaw and Company, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 1981.
Exhibition HistoryModern Gallery, New York, 1915–1916.

The Society of Independent Artists, New York, April 1917.

“Paintings from the Earl Horter Collection,” Philadelphia Museum of Art (Then the Pennsylvania Museum of Art), February 17–March 14, 1934; Chicago Arts Club, April 3–26, 1934.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1935–1942.

“1910–12, The Climactic Years in Cubism,” Jacques Seligmann and Co., New York, October 16–November 6, 1946.

“New York Private Collections,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, June 26–September 16, 1951.

“The Struggle for New Form,” World House Galleries, New York, January 22–February 23, 1957.

“An Inaugural Exhibition: El Greco, Rembrandt, Goya, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso,” Milwaukee Art Institute, September 12–October 20, 1957.

“Cubism in Retrospect, 1911-1929,” Denver Art Museum, January 22–February 22, 1959.

“The Colin Collection,” M. Knoedler & Co., New York, April 12–May 14, 1960.

“Picasso: An American Tribute,” Saidenberg Gallery, New York, April 25–May 12, 1962.

“European Art 1895–1914,” Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, March 15–April 21, 1964.

"Picasso and Man," Art Gallery of Toronto, January 11–February 16, 1964; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, February 28–March 31, 1964.

“Collector of the Year,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, February 13–March 15, 1970.

“Picasso,” Acquavella Galleries, New York, April 15–May 17, 1975.

“Pablo Picasso, A Retrospective,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 22–September 30, 1980.

"Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 21–September 3, 1988.

"Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 20, 1989–January 16, 1990; Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel, February 25–June 18, 1990.

"The Dark Mirror–Picasso: Photography and Painting," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 16, 1997–February 1, 1998.

"Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910-12," Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, May 29–August 21, 2011.

"Picasso Black and White," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 24–May 27, 2013.

Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain, February–May, 2022.

Catalogue raisonnéChristian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Vol. 2, Oeuvres de 1906 a 1912 (Paris: Cahiers d’Art, 1942), Part I, page 115, illus. no. 231.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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