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Pablo Picasso Glass of Absinthe Paris, spring 1914

  • Not on view

Picasso cast six bronze copies of Glass of Absinthe from a wax original and decorated each of them uniquely. In this version he broke new ground by incorporating an existing object into his sculpture: a real absinthe spoon nestles between the modeled bronze sugar cube and glass. (Absinthe is prepared by pouring the brilliant green liquid through a sugar cube resting on a slotted spoon like the one seen here.) Picasso spoke of his desire to explore different modes of representation: "I was interested in the relation between the real spoon and the modeled glass. In the way they clashed with each other."

Gallery label from Focus: Picasso Sculpture, July 3–November 3, 2008.
Medium
Painted bronze with absinthe spoon
Dimensions
8 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 3 3/8" (21.6 x 16.4 x 8.5 cm), diameter at base 2 1/2" (6.4 cm)
Credit
Gift of Louise Reinhardt Smith
Object number
292.1956
Copyright
© 2024 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

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1914 Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris (per inventory label)
1914 Sequestered by the French government as enemy property
1921 Hôtel Drouot, Paris (First Kahnweiler sale, 14 June 1914, lot 139, comprised of 5 painted bronze cast, each sold individually)
Curt Burgauer, Zurich (per exhibition at Kunsthaus Zürich: Ausstellung europäische Kunst 13. – 20. Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen.”, 6 June through 13 August 1950)
Juliette Cramer, Paris
1956 Fine Arts Associates (Otto M. Gerson), New York (purchased from the above in July 1956, per The Otto and Ilse Gerson Papers, The Archives of American Art. AAA, microfilm reel 4052, frame 1363)
1956 The Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchased from the above with funds from Louise Reinhardt Smith on 7 November 1956).

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