1 / 1

zoom is not available
image compare is not available
download is not available

Painted almost entirely in shades of cool blues, a little girl stands at a table holding a bowl and spoon in this vertical painting. The table comes into the scene from our left, and she faces it in profile facing our left. The table is covered with a cloth and comes up to her chest. She looks down into the bowl, which she tips toward her with the hand closer to us, and she holds a spoon inside, as if stirring, with the other. She has a high forehead, a snub nose, and a rounded chin. The vivid pink of her lips and cheeks and the tawny brown of her shoulder-length hair contrast with the icy blues of the rest of the picture. She wears a knee-length dress with a wide cloth wound around her neck with the ends trailing down her chest and back. Marine-blue socks come halfway up her otherwise bare calves, and she wears dark shoes. There are two more objects on the table: a mug, painted with a coral-orange and blue design, and a flax-yellow object that could be a piece of food. The girl's dress, the cloth around her neck, and the tablecloth are painted in shades of turquoise, sky, and cobalt blue. A brown wooden leg emerges from under the tablecloth. The floor around the girl is pale blue with a darker blue area indicating the shadow cast by the table. The shadow is streaked with a few lines of orange and light brown. Blue fields on the back wall behind the girl could be blue curtains next to a patch of brown wall, in the upper left corner. All of the objects and the girl’s features are outlined in royal blue. The artist signed the upper left corner, “Picasso.”

Pablo Picasso

Le gourmet, 1901

East Building, Mezzanine — Gallery 217-C

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 92.8 x 68.3 cm (36 9/16 x 26 7/8 in.)

framed: 117.8 x 94 x 10.1 cm (46 3/8 x 37 x 4 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Collection

Accession Number

1963.10.52

Artists / Makers

Pablo Picasso (artist) Spanish, 1881 - 1973

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Copyright

Inscription

upper left: Picasso

Provenance

Dr. Alexandre, Paris.[1] Josef Stransky [1885-1936], New York, by 1930;[2] (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold November 1936 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

[1] Ralph Flint, "The Private Collection of Josef Stransky," Art News XXIX no. 33 (16 May 1931): 88.

[2] Stransky lent the painting to The Museum of Modern Art's 1930 exhibition Painting in Paris from American Collections.

Associated Names

Alexandre, Dr.
Dale, Chester
Stransky, Josef
Wildenstein & Co., Inc.

Exhibition History

1901: Exposition De Tableaux De F. Iturrino et de P.-R. Picasso, Galerie Vollard, Paris, 1901, no. 47, as L'Enfant blanc.

1930: Painting in Paris from American Collections, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1930, no. 65, repro., as The Sweet Tooth.

1932: The Stransky Collection of Modern Art, Worcester Art Museum, 1932-1935 (extended loan).

1933: A Century of Progress, Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 401.

1936: Collection of a Collector, Wildenstein & Co. Ltd., London, 1936.

1943: Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, 1943-1952 (extended loan), unnumbered catalogue, repro. p. 45

1965: The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1978: Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 2, repro.

1997: Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997-1998, no. 64, color repro., as The Greedy Child (shown only in Washington).

2010: From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1932: Zervos, Christian. Pablo Picasso. 33 vols. Paris, 1932-1978: 1(1957): no. 51, pl. 23.

1943: Twentieth Century French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1943:, 45, repro.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 101.

1965: Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965 (rev. ed.): 67, color repro.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 89, repro.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 264, repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 602, no. 934, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 304, repro.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 248-249, color repro.

1997: Le miroir noir: Picasso,sources photographiques 1900-1928. Exh. cat. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1997: 30, no. 17, repro.