Seated Harlequin (Sitzender Harlekin / Arlequin assis), 1923
Two Picasso paintings are central to the Kunstmuseum Basel art collection: The Two Brothers (1906) from the Gósol period and Seated Harlequin (1923). When their longtime lenders decided to sell in 1967, Basel citizens approved a public loan to buy them—a landmark vote in cultural policy. Picasso, impressed, donated four additional works, including Venus and Cupid (1967), The Couple (1967), Man, Woman, and Child (1906), and a Compositional Study for “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”.