The characters in the Italian Commedia dell’Arte fascinated Picasso who saw them as vicarious figures through which to express his moods. Harlequin in particular, dressed in a suit full of multi-colored triangles symbolizing his ambivalent and seductive demeanor. Harlequin is a survivor; cunning and creative, sensual and provocative. He appears in Picasso’s work toward 1901 in the midst of his “rose period” and is a recurring motif in his work until 1924 when the artist established his relationship with Surrealism.

Conversely, Pulcinella does not appear in Picasso’s work until 1920 when he produced the costumes and set designs for Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Ballet, performed by the theater company of Sergei Diaghilev. If the classic Pulcinella is a grotesque character, Stravinsky turned him into a charmer who was in danger of being assassinated by the partners of the women he had seduced.

In order to resolve the encounter between figuration and abstraction, realism and avant-garde, in this composition Picasso depicted Harlequin and Pulcinella as a musician (he is holding a violin in his hand), in line with the “return to order” advocated by his friend the composer.