Gertrude Stein

Portrait of Gertrude Stein (French: ) is an oil-on-canvas painting of the American writer and art collector Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso, which was begun in 1905 and finished the following year. The painting is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is considered one of the important works of Picasso's Rose Period. The portrait has historical significance, due to the subject's role in Picasso's early life as a struggling artist and eventual commercial success. It also represents a significant transitional step in the artist's move towards Cubism. Background After putting aside the pessimistic themes of his Blue Period, Picasso had begun a new, more optimistic phase in early 1905, which is now known as his Rose Period. The previous year, Picasso had arrived in Paris from Barcelona to settle there. During this time, Picasso was living in poverty in a dilapidated artist building at 13 rue Ravignan, known as Le Bateau-Lavoir. Gertrude and her brother Leo Stein were art collectors and became friends with Picasso later in 1905. The siblings acquired three Rose Period artworks from the artist at a point in his life when Picasso was still a struggling artist, thus playing an important role in his financial circumstances and eventual commercial success. By the end of 1906, Picasso's works were being bought by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Gertrude Stein was an influential collector of modern art. She held weekly “salons” in Paris, which became legendary and were a gathering place for writers, painters, critics, and poets. Gertrude Stein was also a radical and influential writer. Her portrait remained with her in France and she held on to it through both World Wars, until her death. Portrait of Gertrude Stein was bequeathed to the Museum of Modern Art when she died on 27 July 1946. The portrait was returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for permanent exhibition.