The Three Dancers

Painting by Pablo Picasso

The Three Dancers

Artist| Pablo Picasso
Year| 1925
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 215.3 cm × 142.2 cm (84.8 in × 56 in)
Location| Tate Gallery, London

The Three Dancers (French: Les Trois Danseuses[1]) is a painting by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, painted in June 1925. It is an oil on canvas and measures 84.8 in x 56 in (215.3 cm x 142.2 cm).[2]

## Description

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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.[3]) 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.[4] 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

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Picasso painted The Three Dancers in Paris after a trip to Monte Carlo with his wife, ballet dancer Olga Khokhlova. At this time, Picasso was attracted to André Breton's Surrealism movement.[5] In 1926 the painting appeared in Breton's work Le surréalisme et la peinture (Surrealism and Painting). Others link The Three Dancers to Picasso's failing marriage to Khokhlova.[6]

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

> The jagged forms of Three Dancers convey an explosion of energy. The image is laden with Picasso's personal recollections of a triangular affair, which resulted in the heart-broken suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas. Love, sex and death are linked in an ecstatic dance.[7]

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.[8] The purchase was facilitated by Picasso's friendship with Roland Penrose who was a trustee of the Tate at that time.

## Related works

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Composer and ukulele player Ryan Choi's debut album Three Dancers was named after the painting.[1]

## References

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1. ^ Pinsent, Ed. "Dance of Death – The Sound Projector". Retrieved 2018-12-07.

## Notes

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1. ^ Picasso called it Les Trois Danseuses (French) despite being a Spanish citizen, and the painting is occasionally called this, the original title (see [9]), 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).
2. ^ Three Dancers at Artchive
3. ^ Three Dancers at everything2.com
4. ^ The Guardian's Arts Feature, 7 July 2001
5. ^ The Guardian's Arts Feature, 7 July 2001
6. ^ Tate Gallery: The Three Dancers
7. ^ Tate Gallery: The Three Dancers
8. ^ web.org.uk - The Three Dancers

* v
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Pablo Picasso

Periods|

* Blue (1901–1904)
* Rose (1904–1906)
* African (1907–1909)
* Cubism (1910–1919)

Lists of works|

* 1889–1900
* 1901–1910
* 1911–1920
* 1921–1930
* 1931–1940
* 1941–1950
* 1951–1960
* 1961–1970
* 1971–1973
* Picasso's written works

Paintings|

* Le petit picador jaune (1889)
* Science and Charity (1897)
* Le Moulin de la Galette (1900)
* The Appointment (1901)
* Child with a Dove (1901)
* La Gommeuse (1901)
* Yo, Picasso (1901)
* Portrait of Jaime Sabartés (1901)
* The Blue Room (1901)
* Femme aux Bras Croisés (1901–1902)
* Old Jewish Man with a Boy (1903)
* The Old Guitarist (1903)
* La Vie (1903)
* Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto (1903)
* Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904)
* The Actor (1904–1905)
* Woman Ironing (1904)
* Girl in a Chemise (c. 1905)
* Acrobat and Young Harlequin (1905)
* Family of Saltimbanques (1905)
* Garçon à la pipe (1905)
* Girl on a Ball (1905)
* Les Noces de Pierrette (1905)
* Au Lapin Agile (1905)
* Young Girl with a Flower Basket (1905)
* Famille d'acrobates avec singe (1905)
* Boy Leading a Horse (1905–1906)
* Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905–1906)
* Head of a Young Woman (1906)
* Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
* Woman with a Fan (1908)
* Brick Factory at Tortosa (1909)
* Woman with a Fan (1909)
* Femme et pot de moutarde (1910)
* Girl with a Mandolin (1910)
* Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1910)
* Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910)
* The Accordionist (1911)
* Le pigeon aux petits pois (1911)
* La Coiffeuse (1911)
* Violon et Raisins (1912)
* Bottle, Glass, Fork (1912)
* Ma Jolie (1912)
* Still Life with Chair Caning (1912)
* Arlequin (1913)
* Ma Jolie (1914)
* Three Musicians (1921)
* Reading the Letter (c. 1921)
* The Pipes of Pan (1923)
* The Three Dancers (1925)
* Woman in a Red Armchair (1929)
* Le Repos (1932)
* Girl before a Mirror (1932)
* La Lecture (1932)
* Le Rêve (1932)
* Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932)
* Nude in a Black Armchair (1932)
* Femme à la montre (1932)
* Two Girls Reading (1934)
* Jeune Fille Endormie (1935)
* Guernica (1937)
* Portrait of Dora Maar (1937)
* Woman in Hat and Fur Collar (1937)
* The Weeping Woman (1937)
* Girl with a Red Beret and Pompom (1937)
* Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) (1937)
* Maya with Doll (1938)
* Woman's Head (1939)
* Dora Maar au Chat (1941)
* The Charnel House (1944–1945)
* Nature morte au poron (1948)
* Massacre in Korea (1951)
* Les Femmes d'Alger series (1955)
* Las Meninas (1957)
* The Fall of Icarus (1958)
* Bust of a Seated Woman (Jacqueline Roque) (1960)
* Jacqueline (1961)
* Femme au Chien (1962)

Sculptures|

* Bust of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse) (1931)
* Tête de femme (Dora Maar) (1941)
* Bull's Head (1942)
* Baboon and Young (1951)
* Figure découpée (1963, 1964, 1965)
* Chicago Picasso (1967)
* Sylvette (1970)

Etchings|

* Vollard Suite (1930–1937)
* Minotaur Kneeling over Sleeping Girl (1933)
* Minotauromachy (1935)
* The Dream and Lie of Franco (1937)
* 347 Series (1968)

Drawings|

* Girl from Majorca (1905)
* Don Quixote (1955)
* Toros y toreros (1961)

Lithographs|

* Le Taureau (1945–1946)
* Dove (1949)

Murals|

* Regjeringskvartalet murals

Plays|

* Desire Caught by the Tail (c. 1941)
* The Four Little Girls (c. 1947–1948)

Poetry|

* Picasso's written works

Ballet designs|

* Picasso and the Ballets Russes
* Parade
* The Three-Cornered Hat
* Pulcinella
* Le Train Bleu
* Mercure

Museums|

* Musée Picasso (Paris)
* Musée Picasso (Antibes)
* Museu Picasso (Barcelona)
* Museo Picasso Málaga (Malaga)
* Museo Casa Natal (Malaga)
* Château de Boisgeloup (Normandy)

Partners|

* Fernande Olivier
* Marie-Thérèse Walter
* Dora Maar
* Françoise Gilot
* Geneviève Laporte

Family|

* Olga Khokhlova (first wife)
* Jacqueline Roque (second wife)
* Maya Widmaier-Picasso (daughter)
* Claude Picasso (son)
* Paloma Picasso (daughter)
* Diana Widmaier Picasso (granddaughter)
* Marina Picasso (granddaughter)
* Bernard Ruiz-Picasso (grandson)
* José Ruiz y Blasco (father)

Residences
(France)|

* Bateau-Lavoir (Montmartre Paris)
* Villa La Vigie (Juan-les-Pins, Summer 1924)
* Château de Boisgeloup (Gisors, 1930–1937)
* Château of Vauvenargues (Vauvenargues, 1958–1962)
* Villa La Californie (Cannes, 1955–1961)
* Château de Vie (Mougins, 1961–1973)

Films and
television about|

* Visit to Picasso (1949)
* Guernica (1950)
* The Mystery of Picasso (1956)
* The Adventures of Picasso (1978)
* Surviving Picasso (1996)
* Picasso: Magic, Sex & Death (2001)
* Modigliani (2004)
* Genius (2018 TV series)

Related|

* Carles Casagemas
* Carl Nesjar
* Lydia Corbett
* Lump (dog)
* Fundación Picasso
* Picasso. In the heart of darkness (1939–1945) (2019–2020 exhibition)
* Picasso & Lump (2006 book)
* Picasso referendum of Basel
* Theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria
* Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1915 painting)
* "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso" (1924 poem)
* The Picasso Summer (1969 film)
* Woman, Bird, Star (Homage to Pablo Picasso) (1973 painting)
* "Pablo Picasso" (1976 song)
* The Blue Guitar (1977 etchings)
* Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1993 play)
* Picasso (crater)

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