The Three Dancers

Infobox Painting|

painting_alignment=right
image_size=148px
title=The Three Dancers
artist=Pablo Picasso
year=1925
type=Oil on canvas
height=215.3
width=142.2
height_inch=84.8
width_inch =56
diameter_cm =
diameter_inch =
city=London
museum=Tate Gallery

"The Three Dancers" (French: "Les Trois Danseuses"ref|name) is a painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, painted in June 1925. It is an oil on canvas, 84.8 by 56 in (2153 by 1422 mm). ref|size

Description

The painting shows three dancers, the one on the right being barely visible. A macabre dance takes place, with the dancer on the left having her head bent at a near-impossible angle. The dancer on the right is usually interpreted as being Ramon Pichot, a friend of Picasso who died during the painting of "Three Dancers". (Some critics believe it could well be Picasso's wife Olga Khokhlova.ref|olga) The one on the left is claimed to be Pichot’s wife Germaine Gargallo with the one in the centre being Gargallo’s boyfriend Carlos Casagemas, also Picasso’s friend ref|names. Casagemas shot himself after failing to shoot Gargallo, twenty-five years before Pichot’s death, and the loss of two of his best friends spurred Picasso to paint this chilling depiction of the love triangle.

Background

Picasso painted this in Paris after a trip to Monte Carlo with his wife, ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova. His friend Pichot's death combined with the anniversary of his other friend Casagemas' death caused Picasso to paint this. At this time, Picasso was attracted to André Breton's Surrealism movement and it was also an influence.ref|trip In 1926 it appeared in Breton's work "Le surréalisme et la peinture" ("Surrealism and Painting"). Others link "Three Dancers" to Picasso's failing marriage to Khokhlova.ref|marriage

Its caption at the Tate Gallery gives some insight into the background of the painting:

It is owned by the Tate Gallery, London, having been purchased by it in 1965, and is currently on display as part of the Tate Modern's 'Poetry and Dream' exhibition.ref|buy The purchase was facilitated by Picasso's friendship with Roland Penrose who was a trustee of the Tate at that time.

References

# Picasso called it "Les Trois Danseuses" (French) despite being a Spanish citizen, and the painting is occasionally called this, the original title (see [http://tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=11866] ), as well as its English translation. Picasso lived in France and French titles for his paintings were not uncommon (see "Garçon à la pipe" and "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", for instance).
# [http://artchive.com/1925/picasso.html "Three Dancers" at Artchive]
# [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1723758 "Three Dancers" at everything2.com]
# [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/portrait/story/0,,740306,00.html "The Guardian" 's Arts Feature, 7 July 2001]
# [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/portrait/story/0,,740306,00.html "The Guardian" 's Arts Feature, 7 July 2001]
# [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=11866&searchid=8687 Tate Gallery: "The Three Dancers"]
# [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=11866&searchid=8687 Tate Gallery: "The Three Dancers"]
# [http://web.org.uk/picasso/dancers.html web.org.uk - "The Three Dancers"]