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Entoure ce citron de blanc d'œuf informe Enrobe ce blanc d'œuf d'un azur souple et fin La ligne droite et noire a beau venir de toi L'aube est derrière ton tableau Et des murs innombrables croulent Derrière ton tableau et toi l'œil fixe Comme un aveugle comme un fou Tu dresses une haute épée [vers]1 le vide Une main pourquoi pas une seconde main Et pourquoi pas la bouche nue comme une plume Pourquoi pas un sourire et pourquoi pas des larmes Tout au bord de la toile où jouent les petits clous Voici le jour d'autrui laisse aux ombres leur chance Et d'un seul mouvement des paupières renonce
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesConfirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 2, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Page 50.
1 Poulenc: "dans"First appeared in the revue Labyrinthe, June 15, 1945, and then in Poésie ininterrompue, Paris, Éd. Gallimard, 1946.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, written 1945, appears in Poésie ininterrompue, in Le travail du peintre, no. 1, first published 1945 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Pablo Picasso", FP 161 no. 1 (1956), published 1957 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le Travail du peintre, no. 1, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Pablo Picasso", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Henning) , "Pablo Picasso", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Pablas Pikasas", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Surround this lemon with shapeless eggwhite! Coat this eggwhite with a supple, delicate blue! Even though the straight black line comes from you, the dawn is there behind your painting. And countless walls are crumbling behind your painting, and you (with the fixed stare of a blind man or a lunatic) are raising a tall sword in the empty space. A hand, why not another hand? And why not the mouth as naked as a feather? Why not a smile, and why not teardrops at the edge of the canvas where the tacks are playing? This is other people's daylight. Let the shadows have their chance! With one blink of your eyelids, leave it at that!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, written 1945, appears in Poésie ininterrompue, in Le travail du peintre, no. 1, first published 1945
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 117