Still Life with Watermelon and Cactus entered the Masp inventories as a lithograph under n. 589 G. Following a naked-eye exam supported by the expert opinion of the museum’s conservation department, the conclusion is that this composition was made with oil and pastel. Although Zervos catalogue brings no data about this work, the inscription on its lower left corner indicates that Picasso created it during his sojourn in Vallauris, in 1948. In a letter of June 4 1995, Mme. Jeanne-Yvette Sudour, of Musée Picasso, stated that “cette oeuvre est à rapprocher des dessins que Picasso exécuta en octobre 1948 représentant des natures mortes avec oursins ou figues de barbarie. De cette série, quatro figurent dans le catalogue raisonné de Pablo Picasso par Ch. Zervos.” One could actually regard the drawing as included in the listing of Picasso’s works under numbers z. XV, 90; z. XV, 91; z. XV, 92; z. XV, 93, all of them dated 3 October, 1940. On October 8, two days before making our drawing, Picasso resumed the theme in his Still Life with Watermelon Piece, an oil painting (z, XV, 94), in which he once again depicted the same watermelon motif of the Masp pastel.

— Unknown authorship, 1998

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