Pablo Picasso. Boy Leading a Horse. Paris, 1905-06

Pablo Picasso Boy Leading a Horse Paris, 1905-06

  • MoMA, Floor 5, 503 The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries

Picasso developed this painting from the central motif of an unrealized mural of four mounted riders and a walking figure leading a horse. Determinedly striding forward, the youth seen here exudes confidence, his clenched fist compelling the slender steed to follow him without any reins. The vigorous mark-making, relative lack of fine details, and shifting hues of browns and grays all speak to an evolution in Picasso’s art. But this subdued palette and restrained expressivity would soon be broken by the artist’s radical Cubist explorations in the ensuing years.

Gallery label from 2019
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
7' 2 7/8" x 51 5/8" (220.6 x 131.2 cm)
Credit
The William S. Paley Collection
Object number
575.1964
Copyright
© 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Ambroise Vollard, Paris

Gertrude and Leo Stein, Paris, by 1906 to 1913

Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, Galerie Simon, Paris

The Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Collection, Berlin, by 1927; Elsa Lucy Lolo von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1899-1986), née von Lavergne-Peguilhen, later Countess von Kesselstatt, wife of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1875-1935), 1927 by gift upon marriage to at least July 7, 1934

Galleries Thannhauser, Berlin, by August 31, 1935

William S. Paley, New York, purchased through Albert Skira, Geneva and Marie Harriman Gallery, New York, from Galleries Thannhauser, Berlin and Lucerne on August 28, 1936 until 1964

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of William S. Paley, 1964

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