Derain's Harlequin and Pierrot

André Derain's Harlequin and Pierrot draws its inspiration from the commedia dell'arte, Italy's traditional masked theater. The figure on the left is painted in the classic pose of the harlequin stock character, yet beneath the vivid, patterned costume his expression is near-blank, tinged with melancholy. Through this quiet contrast, Derain captures the loneliness that so often lies behind the business of making people laugh.

The clown was a favorite subject among painters of the era, taken up by Picasso, Renoir, and Cézanne alike. Derain had long wanted to explore the theme himself, and when the collector Paul Guillaume commissioned a work on it, he readily agreed. Once finished, the painting hung prominently in the living room of Guillaume's home.