The Actor (painting)

The Actor (L'acteur) is a 1904 painting by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art.[1]

The Actor
ArtistPablo Picasso 
Year1904
Mediumoil paint, canvas
Dimensions196 cm (77 in) × 115 cm (45 in)
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art
IdentifiersThe Met object ID: 488690
Websitewww.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488690

Background

Picasso painted The Actor during the winter of 1904–1905 when he was 23 years old.[2] The painting is a work of the artist's Rose Period when he changed his painting style from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer and more romantic hues.[1] Picasso painted The Actor on the reverse side of a landscape painting by another artist because he could not afford new canvases at the time.[2] From 1912 to June 1938 the painting was owned by Alice and Paul Friedrich Leffmann, originally of Cologne. [3]The painting currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was donated to the museum in 1952 by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy, daughter of Walter Chrysler, the founder of the Chrysler automobile company.[1] Experts estimate that the painting, which is one of the largest from Picasso's Rose Period, is worth more than US$100 million.[2]

There is some contention around proper ownership of the painting, as the Leffmans sold the painting under duress while fleeing the Nazis. [4]

Aesthetics

The painting portrays an acrobat in a dramatic pose with an abstract design in the background. The canvas measures 196 centimetres (77 in) by 115 centimetres (45 in).[1]

Damage

The Actor was damaged on January 25, 2010 when a woman attending an art class stumbled and fell into the painting, creating a rip of about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in height in the lower right corner. The museum stated that the rip did not affect the artwork's central subject. They also indicated that they intend to have the painting repaired in a few weeks by performing "unobtrusive" work. This was in preparation for an April 27 retrospective of roughly 250 of the artist's works.[1]

See also

References
  1. "New York woman falls, rips Picasso painting". Agence France-Presse. 2010-01-25. Archived from the original on January 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  2. Vogel, Carol (2010-01-25). "Questions Over Fixing Torn Picasso". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  3. "Pablo Picasso | The Actor | The Met". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/arts/design/metropolitan-museum-of-art-picasso-the-actor-lawsuit.amp.html. Retrieved 2020-07-02. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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