Lying female nude 1964

This is one of Picasso's many paintings of reclining nudes, and what grabs me is the way he's not just showing us a body, but also the process of seeing it, feeling it out. It's like he's building her right in front of us with these bold colors and shapes. The paint looks pretty thick here, especially in the dark outlines. You can almost feel the brushstrokes, the way he loaded up the paint and dragged it across the canvas. It's not about smooth blending or perfect realism, but about the physicality of the paint itself. Take a look at the way he’s painted the woman’s face. It’s like he’s twisted it around to show us multiple viewpoints at once. It feels like he’s not just looking at her, but also thinking about her, dissecting her form and putting it back together in his own way. Picasso always had a way of taking what he saw and turning it into something completely new. You know, sometimes I think about Francis Bacon, who twisted and distorted the human form too, but in a totally different way. It makes you wonder, what are they trying to tell us about ourselves? And isn't that what art's all about?