In the manner of Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881–1973
Rider on an Electric Scooter, 2026
Oil on canvas
100 × 80 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.18.4
A rider in a red helmet stands on an electric scooter that has too many handlebars and too many wheels, because it is moving and Picasso shows every position at once. The palette is ochre and grey, with the red and black of the scooter snapping through it. The Futurists painted speed, and Picasso thought they were showing off. Here, for once, he shows off.
The brief
A figure on an electric scooter fractured into motion, several wheels and handlebars at once, a helmet, bold flat red and black. Analytical and synthetic Cubist oil painting, a figure or object fractured into overlapping geometric planes seen from several angles at once, muted ochres, greys and slate blues with passages of bold flat colour, heavy black contour lines, both eyes on one side of a face, collage-like flatness, chalky matte surface. Museum photograph of the oil painting, flat even lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
