Woman at a Fountain 1901

Pablo Picasso painted "Woman at a Fountain" with oil on canvas, and it’s all yellows and blues and blacks. I wonder what it was like for Picasso to make this picture? The blues are so strong, kind of sad somehow, like when you mix blue and black together. Maybe he was thinking about how women are often seen as sources of life, like fountains, always giving. But then there's this weird scribbly fountain in the background. It makes me think that maybe Picasso was also thinking about how women are trapped by those roles. There’s something about the way he’s painted the figures that reminds me of Cézanne - it makes me think about how artists are constantly in dialogue with one another. They see a painting and then they respond to it, and then someone else responds to that. Making paintings is just one big conversation. I love the way a painting can be so sure of itself, and so unsure at the same time. It's always a bit of a mystery, which is why they are so compelling.