Pablo Picasso bij aankomst op Victoria Station, voor de communistische vredesconferentie in Sheffield 1950

This photograph captures Picasso at Victoria Station, arriving for the Communist Peace Conference in Sheffield. Keystone Press Agency shot it and the exact date isn't known. Look at the way he’s holding his hands, like he’s minding them, but also minding something else, something important. I imagine him thinking hard about the conference. He was a peace advocate, a lifelong communist. I bet the photographer was thinking hard too, deciding when to snap the photo and how. Did they talk? I wonder if they had to wait for him to look up, or if they told him to look right at the camera. There are other people there, too, hanging back. It reminds me of other photographs of artists, like when they arrive or leave a place, always a little bit out of context. I wonder if it felt that way for Picasso. Probably. It always feels that way. Artists and photographers are always in conversation with one another, making work and responding to each other. That's how we learn to see the world differently.