I stumbled across this Picasso online while browsing through some of the online digital image collections of Yale University. When I first saw it I wondered, “Really?…, a Picasso in a rare book and manuscript library instead of a gallery or private collection?”
It turns out that the actual physical painting and frame was permanently transferred to the university art gallery. It had originally been owned by Gertrude Stein, a poet, author, and friend of Picasso. It had been gifted to Yale, with other material, by Stein’s life partner, Alice B. Toklas.
Yale University Library permalink
Title: Cafe scene no. 1
Creator: Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973
Published / Created: undated
Abstract: Framed painting.
Extent: 1 painting; 41 x 49 cm. (16.25 x 19.25 in.); oil
Collection Title: Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas papers
Collection/Other Creator: Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946
Collection Date: 1837-1961
In August 2019, a number of important artworks in the Yale University Library Collection of American Literature were permanently transferred to the Yale University Art Gallery. (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library)
Yale University Art Gallery permalink
Artist: Pablo Picasso, Spanish, active France, 1881–1973
Café Scene
1900
Oil on panel
10 × 13 1/4 in. (25.4 × 33.7 cm)
framed: 41.3 × 48.9 × 6.4 cm (16 1/4 × 19 1/4 × 2 1/2 in.)
Transfer from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Gift of Alice B. Toklas to the Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature
Geography: Made in France
Status: Not on view
Culture: Spanish
Period: 19th century
Classification: Paintings
