Pablo Picasso

PABLO PICASSO (Málaga, 1881 – Mougins, France, 1973)
“Reclining Man with Two Women, Evoking the Relationship Between an Old Clown and a Young Girl,” 1968.
Etching and aquatint on BFK Rives paper, print no. 34/50.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Plate 18 of the Suite 347.
Printed by Aldo and Piero Crommelynck and published by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1969.
References: Bloch 1498; Baer 1514 II.B.b.1.
Shows slight water stains.
Measurements: 37.6 x 27.5 cm (print); 54.2 x 42.5 cm (paper); 80 x 65 cm (frame).

Created in Mougins on April 6, 1968, this print corresponds to plate 18 of the Suite 347. In this extensive series of prints, Picasso constructed a personal theater inhabited by painters, models, lovers, jesters, and spectators—figures through whom he explored the themes of creation, desire, the gaze, and the passage of time.

The scene brings together a man reclining between two female figures, accompanied by other characters and dominated by the grotesque appearance of an old jester. Rather than developing a self-contained narrative, Picasso superimposes bodies, nudes, masks, and theatrical references within a deliberately ambiguous composition. The title itself links the image to the relationship between an elderly clown and a young woman, introducing an ironic reflection on the age gap, erotic attraction, and the position of the aging artist in relation to youth.

The etching defines the figures with a swift, incisive, and fluid line, capable of alternating continuous outlines with denser graphic patterns. The aquatint creates the broad black masses of the background, transforming the space into a nocturnal setting against which the bodies, left in white, stand out. The contrast between darkness and line reinforces the visual tension and the theatrical dimension of the scene.

The collaboration with Aldo and Piero Crommelynck was decisive for the technical richness of the series, as the proximity of their studio allowed Picasso to work immediately and experimentally. Prints from the Suite 347 are held in institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the British Museum in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, and the Musée national Picasso-Paris.