Port of Málaga

The present work was painted in Málaga in the summer of 1895 when Picasso's family took an extended holiday, staying with Pablos' rich uncle, Dr Salvador Ruiz Blasco. The family were en route from La Coruña to Barcelona where Picasso's father was due to take a professorship at the Escuela de Bellas Artes, La Llotja. The painting is dedicated to Picasso's grandmother, a startlingly mature and compelling gift from a fourteen year old grandson. A previous owner of the work, Alberto Puig, had visited Picasso in 1953 in order to show him the work. Picasso affirmed that, although it appeared that the inscription referred to his grandfather (abuelo), it was in fact dedicated to his grandmother (abuela). In a certificate of authenticity produced in January 1968 for Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Picasso once again re-affirmed the work's authenticity and stated that 'le personage [sic] dans le toile je pense doit etre [sic] mon père'. Kahnweiler added that the work had to have been executed before September of that year when, with financial assistance from uncle Salvador, the family left by boat for Barcelona. A similar work depicting the same view without the tank and figure and dating from the following summer when the family once again returned to Málaga for the vacation, is in the collection of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona.