A painting of shapes outlined in black in muted tones of brown, gray and black.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The painting is group of rectangles, stacked and closely grouped, varying in height rising to a peak in the top center. The rectangles and other shapes are outlined in black paint. The paint is applied thickly in some areas; there are broad strokes in blocks and patches of brown, gray and black with white highlights. In other areas the paint is daubed on in short thick strokes.

Gallery Text

The Pomegranate presents a reconstituted image of the world based on the fragmented nature of visual experience. The typical trappings of a cafe table — bottles, a glass, a pipe, a cigarette, and fruit — are indicated by black outlines and touches of paint rather than being thoroughly described. The words “Cafe 3,” as if stenciled on a window, introduce a note of spatial depth, even as the other elements of the painting deny it. The purported subject of this painting, the pomegranate, resembles a dissected hieroglyph, with its recognizable crown-like calyx on one side and seeds scattered about; the viewer is reminded that Picasso selected a fruit that explodes into brilliant fragments when opened.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1972.12
People
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish (Malaga, Spain 1881 - 1973 Mougins, France)
Title
The Pomegranate
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1911-1912
Culture
Spanish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/222185

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1300, Modern and Contemporary Art, Early Modernism
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21.5 x 34.6 cm (8 7/16 x 13 5/8 in.)
framed: 33.6 x 46.7 x 3.2 cm (13 1/4 x 18 3/8 x 1 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris]. [Hôtel Drouot, Paris, sale 17-18 November 1921, Lot 170], sold to "Barlot". Private collection, ( by 1942 - 1972) gift; to Fogg Art Museum.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous gift in memory of Eric Schroeder
Copyright
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1972
Object Number
1972.12
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Pierre Daix, Picasso: The Cubist Years 1907-1916, Little, Brown & Company (1979), p. 272, fig. 432
  • Caroline A. Jones, Modern Art at Harvard: The Formation of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press, 1985). With an essay by John Coolidge and a preface by John M. Rosenfield. To accompany the inaugural exhibition at the Sackler Museum, Oct 21 1985 - Jan 5 1986, p. 66, fig. 58, color ill.
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1990), p. 105, no. 37
  • Dr. Tobias G. Natter, Die Galerie Miethke: Eine Kunsthandlung im Zentrum der Moderne, exh. cat., Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien (Vienna, Austria, 2003-2004), p. 174 (repr. in color)
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 191, ill.

Exhibition History

  • Ausstellung Pablo Picasso: Moderne Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, München, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser, 02/01/1913 - 02/28/1913
  • Pablo Picasso, Galerie Miethke, 02/01/1914 - 03/31/1914
  • Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/13/1977 - 08/31/1977
  • Cubism: Explorations and Adaptations, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 09/18/1982 - 10/26/1982
  • Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985
  • The Maurice Wertheim Collection and Selected Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings and Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Isetan Department Store, Tokyo, 03/01/1990 - 04/10/1990; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, 04/14/1990 - 05/13/1990
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Re-View: S118 European & American Art since 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/13/2008 - 04/09/2011
  • Re-View: European and American Art Since 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/03/2011 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1300 Early Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu