A rare complete suite marking the beginning of Picasso’s remarkable journey into printmaking.
The rare complete Saltimbanque Suite, comprising fifteen etchings and drypoints, belongs to a formative period in Picasso’s early career. The works were created between 1904 and 1905, during the transition from his Blue Period to the Rose Period, and were later brought together as a complete suite and published by Ambroise Vollard in 1913.
The suite depicts performers, acrobats and figures from the circus world, subjects that occupied Picasso during his early years in Paris. Among the fifteen works is Le Repas frugal, Picasso’s first etching and one of the most celebrated prints of his early graphic work.
The Saltimbanque Suite marks the beginning of Picasso’s sustained engagement with printmaking, a practice that would remain an important part of his artistic career for nearly seven decades. Complete sets are exceptionally rare, with few surviving together as originally published.