In which museum is Picasso's 'The Old Guitarist' displayed?

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In which museum is Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist” displayed? It is displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Picasso painted the work in late 1903 and early 1904, during his Blue Period. The image shows a gaunt, elderly musician hunched over his guitar while playing in Barcelona. Blue and blue-green tones dominate the painting, reinforcing its atmosphere of poverty, isolation, and melancholy.

The painting reflects Picasso’s personal circumstances after the suicide of his friend Carlos Casagemas in 1901. His restricted palette and sympathetic treatment of society’s vulnerable people became hallmarks of the Blue Period, which preceded his Rose Period.

The Art Institute owns the painting as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection. Modern imaging also revealed earlier compositions beneath the visible surface, including a young mother with a child and an animal. That hidden imagery is why the work is discussed not only as a Blue Period masterpiece but also as a revealing record of Picasso’s revisions.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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