This self-portrait of Picasso was painted in 19011, when he was a young man aged 19 who had recently arrived in Paris. The year was a significant point in the artist's career, as it was in the June of that year when Picasso's career as an artist was launched at his first exhibition at the gallery of [[Ambroise Vollard]]. In the spring of 1901, Picasso was a prolific artist, painting numerous canvases, which he [[Bateau-Lavoir|produced in a studio]] in [[Montmartre]]. The year was also the beginning of his [[Picasso's Blue Period|Blue Period]], a phase characterised by melancholy, blue hues that dominated his artwork. This period was influenced by the suicide of Picasso's friend, the painter [[Carles Casagemas|Carlos Casagemas]], who had shot himself in the head in a Paris café in February 1901.<ref name= "Indep">{{Cite web|last=Darwent|first=Charles|date=17 February 2013|title=Visual art review: Becoming Picasso: Paris 1901 - Portrait of the artist as quixotic genius and grieving friend|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/visual-art-review-becoming-picasso-paris-1901-portrait-artist-quixotic-genius-and-grieving-friend-8498082.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=26 December 2020|website=Independent}}</ref>
