Costume design for the ballet Le Tricorne

Costume design for the ballet Le Tricorne by Pablo Picasso is a seminal record of the artist's engagement with theatrical design during the early 1920s. Commissioned for Sergei Diaghilev’s influential Ballets Russes, Le Tricorne (The Three-Cornered Hat) premiered in 1919. This specific visual documentation, however, belongs to the subsequent portfolio of designs published in 1920, which cataloged Picasso’s innovative contribution to the production.

The work is executed using the complex printmaking techniques of collotype and pochoir. The collotype provided a highly precise, photomechanical tonal base layer for the drawing, allowing for exact reproduction of Picasso’s original sketches. The final application of vivid color was achieved using the pochoir (stencil) technique, characteristic of high-quality French prints from the era. This hand-coloring method results in highly saturated, crisp color fields, effectively translating the impact of the stage costumes onto paper. This piece is part of a portfolio containing thirty-two plates, primarily illustrating the costumes and sets designed by Picasso for the ballet.

Picasso’s involvement with Le Tricorne was a significant artistic period, documenting his move toward neoclassical realism following his more radical Cubist explorations. The design reflects the deep Spanish cultural roots of the ballet’s source material, allowing Picasso to employ exaggerated scale and vibrant colors to depict characters drawn from traditional folk narratives. The characters’ robust forms and bold outlines showcase the artist’s dramatic flair for capturing theatrical movement. This important work, classified formally as an Illustrated Book, is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), preserving this crucial historical record of collaboration between a Modern master and the world of dance.