Two naked women 1906

Pablo Picasso made this drawing of two naked women with graphite, or something like it, on paper. The thing that gets me about this image is the way the artist is clearly thinking through the process of mark making. Look at the bottom of the figures, how the density of the marks slowly reveals the shape of the figures like a photographic print developing in darkroom chemicals. You get a sense that he is not entirely sure of the placement of the limbs, so he keeps adding more and more hatching until the composition starts to make sense. This is visible throughout the entire drawing. Look how dark and overworked the left figure's left shoulder becomes, almost as if Picasso is battling to make it emerge from the background. You get the sense that he is wrestling with the picture plane in real time, a process that is so intrinsic to his wider oeuvre. It reminds me of De Kooning, but even more raw!