Picasso and S. Junier-Vidal sitting near Celestina 1904

Picasso made this drawing of himself with S. Junier-Vidal and Celestina with crayon, and right away I notice how the hatching of blues and yellows creates a kind of shimmering atmosphere. It’s like he’s capturing not just the scene, but the feeling of being there. The texture is so immediate. You can almost feel the scratch of the crayon on the page. The blues cast long shadows that feel melancholy, but then there are these sunny yellows cutting through, making the whole thing a little more hopeful. Look at the way he’s rendered the figures. The lines are kind of frenetic, a jumble of marks that somehow resolve into these recognizable forms. It's not about perfection, it’s about the energy of the moment, the pure act of seeing and recording. It reminds me a little of Van Gogh, not just in the palette, but in the way he uses mark-making to express emotion. But of course, Picasso takes it somewhere completely new. And isn't that what art is all about? Taking what came before and making it your own.