Paging Pablo Picasso

The Bronfman family, who built the Seagram Building and actively participated in the development of its huge new restaurant, sought in the late 1950s to display the work of some of the finest modern artists, including Pablo Picasso. When contacted, Picasso declined to create the wished-for large painting for the Pool Room, pleading too little time. Instead, he offered a canvas curtain painted for the Paris production of the ballet The Three-Cornered Hat—a prize that had been promised to New York’s Museum of Modern Art, but was found to be too large for the museum walls.

The Bronfmans jumped at the chance and bought the curtain to hang in the Pool Room of The Four Seasons. Yet Restaurant Associates Vice President Joseph Baum had reservations about its placement. “It depicted a bullfight,” he explained, “and I just didn’t think that would go down well with customers dining on tournedos of beef.” In the end, the Picasso curtain was hung in the spacious corridor between the restaurant’s Pool Room and Grill Room, on a 20-foot-high travertine wall. To say the least, it was—and remains—a dramatic surprise for arriving diners and bargoers.

To this day, artworks are exhibited in the downstairs lobby on East 52nd Street. In times past, the most famous included Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles and Joan Miró’s Composition. In fact, in the 1960s, The Four Seasons was the scene of a series of important exhibitions, some showcasing such emerging artists as Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, and Robert Rauschenberg.