Variation on Delacroix's "Women of Algiers": V 1955

This is a print, “Variation on Delacroix’s ‘Women of Algiers’: V,” by Pablo Picasso. You can tell it's a print because of the thin, precise, looping lines, all those cross-hatched marks that build up tone, and the flat, unmodulated surface. It’s like he’s feeling his way around the forms, cautiously defining the figures. Imagine Picasso wrestling with Delacroix's painting, trying to get under its skin, into its bones. How can he capture the lushness, the languor, and the veiled mystery? Look how he flattens the space, pushes the figures forward, and distorts their bodies into almost cartoonish shapes. There are erotic shapes, and the figures are compressed together. It’s like he's collapsing time, bringing the past into the present, and challenging Delacroix's vision with his own. Picasso was always in conversation with other artists, cannibalizing their ideas and making them his own. He’s showing us that art is not about originality, but about transformation. And that’s a relief, right?