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The Young Picasso in Madrid

January to April 1901: An evocative drawing sheds light on the life of the young master

Leaving Malaga in late January 1901, the 20 year old Picasso parted company with his close friend and fellow artist Casagemas and headed for Madrid. He arrived there on the 28th January and initially spent a few days in a pension on the Calle Caballero de Gracia and then signed a one-year lease on a studio at 28 Calle Zurbano. He and a friend from Els Quatre Gats, Francisco de Asis Soler, coedited a new art and literary journal called Arte Joven; five issues appeared beginning in March.

'Ruiz Picasso, who recently arrived in Madrid has not slept for a moment, and has been studying, running around, painting and sketching in all the streets and alleys of the land of the chulos.'

He spent much of his time making sketchbook drawings of street life in the city and the principal sketchbook of that period now known as Carnet 96 was filled with 24 drawings in ink and charcoal that showed dancers, musicians, street traders, prostitutes and low life captured with a superbly vigorous line revealing Picasso's precocious genius. In an earlier visit to Paris, he had been much influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec's portrayals of the seedy side of Paris life and Picasso's early Madrid drawings are similarly imbued with a relish for city decadence.

Page 15 from this sketchbook, Personnages et Deux Chiens (currently being offered for sale by The Court Gallery), is a wonderfully complete narrative drawing showing prostitutes and their pimps liaising with punters in a Madrid alley. The drawing contains seven fascinating character studies rapidly conceived - a hunched old punter negotiates with a chaperone meanwhile the young prostitute looks over the decrepid couple to catch the eye of the artist who is recording the scene. Behind them another chaperoned prostitute is under scrutiny from two sinister onlookers and in the foreground a pair of sniffing lap dogs add humour to the narrative. Later Picasso would often return to the subject of prostitutes and by 1902 was even portraying himself cavorting with them (see Self-Portrait with Reclining Nude, 1902-03, Museu Picasso, Barcelona).

Despite the energy and wit of these early Madrid drawings, Picasso never warmed to the city and when he heard that Casagemas had returned to Paris he was eager to join him. However, before he could be reunited with his old friend, Casegamas's failed love affair drove him to suicide - the young artist shot himself in front of a group of friends at the Hippodrome restaurant in Montmartre. Picasso finally left Madrid for Paris in April 1901 devastated by the loss of his closest friend.

Personnages et Deux Chiens