Harlequin with guitar 1918

This is Pablo Picasso’s “Harlequin with guitar,” painted in 1918. There's something immediately captivating about Picasso’s treatment of the surface here. It’s like he's letting us in on the act of making. Up close, you can see how he’s built up this image with hatched marks, like a tapestry or weaving, layer upon layer. The paint feels dry, almost powdery, not trying to hide its material qualities. The lines in the harlequin's outfit, they’re not perfectly straight, they wobble and have a life of their own, giving the figure a wonderful sense of movement. The more I look, the more I feel like the painting is breathing. There's a dialogue happening with someone like Paul Cézanne, in the way Picasso flattens and angles the space. But Picasso is also bringing his own wildness, his own take on how to make a picture, which, really, is what art is all about.