Access a slow-looking exercise related to this work.

Transcript
Marilee Talkington: "Jardin de Paris (Design for a Poster)" is a work on paper in ink and watercolor by Pablo Picasso. It measures just over two feet high by one and a half feet wide and was made in 1901 as a prospective design for the Parisian dance hall le Jardin de Paris.

Four dancers facing us are featured on a stage. Picasso depicts the stage floor with about ten long, thin, vertical lines in black, spaced unevenly along the bottom half of the paper, which has a cream-colored tone.

Filling the top half of the paper, the background behind the dancers is sketchily painted bright blue, made up of swift, blended brushstrokes that complement the movement conveyed by the dancers. In front of this background, three dancers are linked arm in arm in a row, from the center to the right of the paper. Another dancer appears larger in the foreground on the left of the composition. All the dancers have light auburn hair pinned up around chin length and falling across their foreheads. The two dancers on the left side of the work each wear a small, red, circular flower, angled on their heads. This red color is echoed on their lips and cheeks. Each dancer sways and dances at various angles, lifting and extending one foot while also lifting the edges of their yellow dresses. They reveal a red lining of ruffled layers and frilled pantalets over dark black tights and light-colored shoes with flat heels and pointed toes. The dancer farthest left holds the left edge of their skirt high above their head, creating an arc of fabric along the left edge of the paper.

Filling the upper-right quadrant over the blue background section, the word “Jardin” is painted in tall, thin, black letters, stacked slightly above and to the left of the word “Paris.” A horizontal dash sits before “Jardin,” and another one sits after “Paris.” There are also two horizontal lines in parallel through the letters "R", "D", "I", "N" in “Jardin.” The letters are all capitalized except for both “i’s” which waver slightly, as if mirroring the dancers’ movements. Above the lettering, the background appears darkened as if the ink was slightly smudged or blended across the top-right edge of the composition.

At the bottom right is Picasso’s signature in dark ink, underlined and with a small horizontal dash at each end.

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