Las Meninas (Velazquez) 1957

Pablo Picasso painted this artwork, "Las Meninas (Velazquez)" with what looks like oil on canvas at an unknown date, and what strikes me is the way he's turned this historical painting into a playground of shape and color. The paint here feels applied directly, a bit raw, as if he’s wrestling with the image, trying to pull something new out of it. Notice how the figures are suggested rather than defined, blocks of yellow and blue and red stacked together. There's an openness to the brushwork, an honesty about the process that invites you in. Look at the figure in the doorway, it's barely there, just a smudge of light, yet it holds so much weight, so much mystery. It's like a question mark hanging in the space. Picasso’s series on "Las Meninas" reminds me a little of Philip Guston’s late work, that same urge to break things down and build them back up again, not to destroy but to discover. Art is never really finished, is it? It just keeps changing hands, changing perspectives, changing shape.