THE COLLECTION
The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
Horta de San Joan summer 1909. Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 20 1/8" (61.5 x 51.1 cm). Fractional and promised gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller. © 2009 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
81.1991
Cézanne to Picasso: Paintings from the David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection
July 17–August 31, 2009
The landscapes Picasso produced in southern Spain in 1909 were critical to the development of the early Cubist style, in which subjects are rendered from multiple perspectives using faceted forms and simplified geometric shapes. In The Reservoir, Horta de Ebro (titled using the artist's name for the town of Horta de San Joan), Picasso used interlocking planes to fuse the land's rugged topography with the terracotta and stucco architecture of the village. The spatial ambiguity characteristic of Cubism is evident: the steep hillside suggests an upward gaze while the curved shape at the bottom—a cistern—reveals a downward view into a reflection on water.
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