Two Weight Lifters
1905
Pen and brown ink on thin brown wove paper
23.2 × 31.1 cm (9.1 × 12.2 in)
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● On view now — Collection Gallery, Room 20, West Wall
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · verified July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
This sheet documents two images of a bulky acrobat with brick-shaped weights resting on his arms. While Picasso's 1905 paintings on circus themes typically depict performers he befriended outside their social function as public spectacles, Picasso turned to drawing to explore the feats of the human body he witnessed during regular visits to Montmartre's Cirque Médrano, a popular site also featured in works by Renoir, Degas, Seurat, and Toulouse-Lautrec.
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