Portrait of Igor Stravinsky

A man in a suit, wearing round spectacles.
He sits quietly, his hands tightly clasped in front of him.

A famous anecdote is often told about this portrait.

"Mistaken for a secret blueprint of a military fortification at a border checkpoint."
Suspicious military police nearly confiscated it, or so the story goes.

Yet, in truth, that anecdote does not belong to this drawing.

The incident took place in 1917.
It occurred with an entirely different portrait drawn by Picasso.
Even today, many commentaries mistakenly continue to repeat the story in connection with this work.

When and how, then, was this piece created?

May 24, 1920, Paris.
Picasso's studio at 23 Rue La Boétie.
There, the composer Igor Stravinsky came to visit.

The two had first met three years earlier in Italy.
Visual art and music.
Though working in different fields, both pursued innovation and immediately formed a deep rapport.

Then, in mid-May 1920.
The ballet Pulcinella premiered at the Paris Opéra.
It was a historic production, featuring music by Stravinsky and stage designs by Picasso.

With packed houses and fervent applause every day,
it was amid this lingering excitement that the studio visit took place.

Picasso's home at the time had two distinct faces.
The lower floor was a refined living space reflecting his wife's taste.
The upstairs studio, however, was entirely different.

Unfinished canvases, African sculptures, musical instruments, papers.
It was a chaotic space, cluttered to the point where there was barely room to step.

The First World War had brought unprecedented destruction.
Postwar Europe sought a "return to order."
A movement turning away from radical, destructive impulses to reclaim classical harmony.

Stravinsky turned toward music that reconstructed Classical styles.
Picasso, too, moved toward expression through precise line drawing.
Two geniuses synchronized with the spirit of the age crossed paths here.

Amidst his chaotic studio, Picasso captured his friend's likeness in one swift sitting.

It was not commissioned by anyone.
Nor was it made for money.

The two frequently exchanged drawings and musical manuscripts.
Stravinsky would present autograph scores, and Picasso would respond with portraits.
It was an intimate dialogue between two figures at the cutting edge.