This painting was created during Picasso's early years as an artist after moving to Paris from Barcelona in 1904. As a young man with little money, Picasso lived in a studio in a … See more

Family of Saltimbanques was painted during a period from late 1904 to early 1906 when Picasso was exploring themes about the saltimbanque. During this period, Picasso frequently attended the Cirque Médrano in Montmartre and was inspired by a group … See more

Critics have suggested that Family of Saltimbanques is a covert group portrait of Picasso and his social circle, symbolized as poor, independent and isolated. The painting was removed from the Spanish salon at the IX Biennale of Venice in 1910, because it was … See more

The painting was originally purchased directly from Picasso in 1908 by the Parisian businessman André Level for the La Peau de l'Ours Collection. Six years later, it was sold at See more

Analysis of the painting has revealed that Picasso painted the composition twice before completing the third and final layer. In 1980, E. A. Carmean and Ann Hoenigswald made … See more

Family of Saltimbanques is the culmination of the Saltimbanque cycle, a series of drawings, paintings, engravings and sculptures that Picasso focused on from late 1904 to the end of 1905. After studying the lives of the circus performers of the Cirque Medrano, … See more

Bohemian–Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was inspired by this painting as he wrote the fifth of ten elegies in his Duino Elegies (1923). Rilke used the figures in Picasso's … See more