The Frugal Meal (September 1904, printed 1913): Art, History and Details

The Frugal Meal (September 1904, printed 1913) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973); Louis Fort (French, active 1800s–1900s); Ambroise Vollard (French, 1867–1939).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this early print, Pablo Picasso depicted a couple—possibly two performers—sitting before a meager meal. Although the woman gazes forward directly, her male companion's unfocused stare suggests his blindness. This subject was one that Picasso explored during his Blue Period (1901–4), a stage of his career when he used a predominantly cool palette to depict figures marginalized by society.

Object facts

• Title: The Frugal Meal
• Date: September 1904, printed 1913
• Creator attribution: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973); Louis Fort (French, active 1800s–1900s); Ambroise Vollard (French, 1867–1939)
• Culture: Spain
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Image: 45.5 x 37 cm (17 15/16 x 14 9/16 in.); Plate: 46.3 x 37.6 cm (18 1/4 x 14 13/16 in.); Sheet: 63 x 49.8 cm (24 13/16 x 19 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1929.888

A detail from the museum

To create this print, Pablo Picasso recycled a zinc plate previously used by a friend.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Planas, Claustre Raffart. "Early Works and the Blue Period." In Picasso and Paper. William H. Robinson, et al., 62-79. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2020.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.