The Rose Period comprises the works produced by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso between 1904 and 1906. It began when Picasso settled in Montmartre at the Bateau-Lavoir among bohemian poets and writers. Following his Blue Period – which depicted themes of poverty, loneliness, and despair in somber, blue tones – Picasso's Rose Period represents more pleasant themes of clowns, harlequins and carnival performers, depicted in cheerful vivid hues of red, orange, pink and earth tones.
Pablo Picasso, 1905, Acrobate et jeune Arlequin (Acrobat and Young Harlequin), oil on canvas, 191.1 x 108.6 cm, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Boy Leading a Horse, 1905–06, oil on canvas, 220.6 cm × 131.2 cm (86.85 in × 51.65 in), Museum of Modern Art, New York
At the time Picasso lived at the Le Bateau-Lavoir (center) in Montmartre, Paris.
Pablo Picasso, 1904, L'acteur (The Actor), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Picasso in 1908
Picasso with his sister Lola, 1889
Picasso in 1904. Photograph by Ricard Canals
La Vie (1903), Cleveland Museum of Art