Who did the famous artist think about when painting this picture? Whether it was some ragged busker, whom he used to meet on the pavement and give him change, or anyone else, Picasso managed to express perfectly in his Cubist depiction the character of this musical instrument: incoherence, vagueness.

What milieu does it belong to? On the street, in a crowded club or a concert hall of a conservatory? Beggars play it, pub singers, sailors and broody melancholics. It can accompany a naughty drinking song, a jolly folk dance just as well as a tender, dreamy melody.
Such resistance to pigeonholes and uneasy classification – do you also like them so much?

Accordionist (L’Accordéoniste), Céret, summer 1911. Oil on canvas, 130,2 × 89,5 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Article by Háta Kreisinger Komňacká
Published on 11/11/2013